The seven Test match animals England have unearthed in Argentina

Telegraph

4 days ago

Before travelling to Argentina, as well as his traditional trick of claiming the underdog tag, Steve Borthwick urged players to seize the mantle and announce themselves as 'Test match animals'.
A few weeks later, as he reflects on a 2-0 series triumph, the England head coach will be delighted with the response. Yes, the hosts rested players and were pretty underwhelming. But a pair of compelling wins have provided immense encouragement.
The second Test in San Juan represented an exercise in problem-solving. Deprived of Jamie George just hours before kick-off, the England line-out was disrupted. They suffered moments of misfortune, such as an Ignacio Mendy try from a ricochet off the post. The breakdown was a mess and the visitors will feel as though they could have had more favourable refereeing decisions.
And yet, England prevailed thanks to a last-gasp try from Jack van Poortvliet. It is worth highlighting George Ford as the consummate string-puller. Sam Underhill was also close to his menacing best. And, given his comments prior to departure, Borthwick will revel in the emergence of seven relatively inexperienced internationals who can now press for involvement at the 2027 World Cup.
Seb Atkinson
Are two caps enough to demonstrate your class? Definitely. Atkinson amassed 28 tackles without missing a single one and packed both games with good decisions on the ball while picking up a maiden try. He backed up a promising training camp in some style.
This turnover in the opening minutes is the sort of contribution Borthwick loves. Atkinson drives into a ruck and causes Mendy to fall backwards onto Simón Benítez Cruz, who spills:
Atkinson's try at the beginning of the second Test was a reward for relentless but intuitive running as he trailed Luke Northmore to receive an offload:
The 23-year-old could have had a second from this strike play, which he instigates by tearing flat and shaping to carry before lifting a deft pull-back pass to Northmore behind the run of Alex Dombrandt:
Atkinson follows up and arrives in the right place at the right time again, yet cannot quite control Cadan Murley's offload:
While their attack under Richard Wigglesworth is evolving and has shown quality, England very rarely go wide from first-phase situations such as this. With Lee Blackett as a stand-in assistant coach and presented with pristine conditions, they put air on the ball. Atkinson translated his subtlety at the gain-line for Gloucester to the top level impressively. This allowed England to play with width from strike moves.
It is worth revisiting his defence, too. Argentina evidently adopted a narrower approach in San Juan and probed the fringes, which will have been at least partly due to how England stifled their sweeping back play in La Plata. That is a compliment to Atkinson's organisation, industry and toughness.
Guy Pepper
Perhaps this is hasty. However, in just 42 minutes across two cameos, Pepper laid down a marker. At the end of a season that started with Johann van Graan comparing him to Richie McCaw, the combative 22-year-old was exceptional.
If his disallowed try in the Premiership final between Bath and Leicester Tigers was an indication of his potential as a carrier, this midfield charge moments after arriving from the bench in San Juan offered another glimpse.
Pepper steps up at first-receiver following a charge from Cadan Murley and beats Pedro Delgado with some evasive footwork. It takes a brilliant tap-tackle from Matías Moroni to stop the flanker's charge:
Used by Bath as a double-act and blindside and openside flanker, Pepper and Underhill team up to stop Delgado before Pepper rips the ball away:
And Pepper's role in the winning try signed off his series nicely. At the climax of an exhausting Test match with players seemingly spent, he and Underhill combine for a turnover on Benjamín Elizalde.
They are both on their feet a phase later and, with his second touch, Pepper takes the space. He has the energy to slip past two defenders – both backs – before spinning to lift a tumbling offload to Van Poortvliet:
Borthwick's autumn will be shaped by brutal calls in the back row and he is leveraging phenomenal depth in that area with unconventional tactics. England finished Saturday with a back row of Pepper, Underhill and Ben Curry. Chandler Cunningham-South was on for Alex Coles at lock and Dombrandt was at centre as a de facto replacement for Northmore.
In a game that had descended into a tense kicking battle, that arrangement suited the tourists and Curry, Underhill and Pepper were involved in the decisive score. Once again, positional flexibility and open-minded use of a six-two bench split came to the fore.
Tom Willis
Charlie Ewels, Ben Spencer, Freddie Steward and Dombrandt will all feel a sense of catharsis about this series and Curry consolidated himself as a dependable international. Willis is another slightly older figure at 26, though he stamped his authority on Test matches in the most convincing manner.
This carry, as England play in-field from a breakdown close to the far touchline, was typical of his rambunctious running. Willis takes a sharp inside pass from Ewels and bursts past two before finding Alex Coles with an offload:
An opportunistic and brawny turnover in the second half, with Willis and Underhill man-handling Santiago Grondona, brought about three crucial points:
Such is the back-row pile-up that nobody can be assured of caps, but Willis was a focal point and eclipsed luminaries such as Pablo Matera and Facundo Isa in this series. One can hardly lavish him with higher praise than that.
Tom Roebuck
A tall and rangy back three was designed to govern the aerial exchanges and help Spencer and Ford to control territory. Roebuck also reinforced his balance and deceptive speed. He did not score in the second Test, yet climbed above Mendy and linked with Northmore in the build-up to Atkinson's try.
Later on, this surge exemplified an effective way of using strapping wings; by feeding them early. Van Poortvliet fires across the pass here and Roebuck cuts back against the grain before bouncing up again when he is tackled but not held. England earn the right to go wide in a different way, by backing one of their best runners to force himself in behind Argentina:
Fully justifying his two starts, and foreshadowing more exasperating selection meetings for Borthwick when all wings and full-backs are fit and available, Roebuck has become a sophisticated target man.
Will Muir
A theme of this list is how players have replicated their domestic displays and, weeks after terrorising Leicester at Twickenham, Muir was predictably prominent in the kicking battles. It must be intimidating to have him bear down on you in the back-field and Muir is regarded as an even more potent weapon since the crackdown on escorting. Either he springs to compete or he stays on the ground and commits to wince-inducing tackles.
A Test debutant in La Plata at the age of 29, the former sevens specialist has come into the England fold as a mature and skilful operator. Here, like a modern boundary fielder in cricket, he does superbly to reach a deflected clearance from Benítez Cruz and swing the pass to Bath colleague Spencer in a single movement:
Familiarity with Blackett's methods will have been reassuring as well. Here, on the back of a scrum that provides a perfect platform, Muir arcs off his wing to wrap Ford and release Roebuck after Atkinson's pull-back behind Northmore:
Two phases later, he has cycled back to offer himself to Ford in a second layer behind the flat runs of Atkinson and Northmore. Muir straightens slightly and gives Steward a walk-in:
Players seizing opportunities to impress is a sign of healthy competition in a constructive environment and Murley, in an England shirt for the first time since an eventful debut in Dublin, deserves credit for two sparky cameos.
Fin Baxter
There is something charmingly unfussy about Baxter and no rival front row will underestimate him after this tour. He is a fresh-faced assassin, who clearly possesses a stoic attitude and buckets of resilience.
Blooded in New Zealand a year ago, he endured a tough autumn before steadying himself during the Six Nations. Then he tormented Argentina. This scrum reflected England's superiority, earning a penalty advantage and allowing Willis to wreak havoc from the base:
England moving the ball away from the scrum was a hallmark of this series. Baxter is also reminiscent of his Harlequins mentor, Joe Marler, in the way he uses excellent technique in the tackle to whack opponents backwards. The 23-year-old has poise on the ball, too. Watch how he latches onto this overthrown line-out and sells a dummy to Santiago Carreras to bustle over the gain-line:
Ellis Genge is enjoying a fine tour with the British and Irish Lions. When he returns to Borthwick's squad, England will have a significant one-two punch at loosehead with the energetic Bevan Rodd also gathering experience.
Joe Heyes
Since beginning his senior international career with a couple of starts in Covid fixtures against USA and Canada four years ago, Heyes had picked up 10 caps off the bench without wearing England's number three shirt before the beginning of this tour. In that respect, his efforts in Argentina crowned a long period of perseverance.
It might have been challenging for Heyes to see constant questions about where the next tightheads were coming from while he continued to accumulate first-team games for Leicester. Two assured performances against the Pumas, marrying set-piece solidity with impact around the pitch, complemented a quietly impressive Six Nations and a seminal campaign with Tigers.
Maybe an existing relationship with Tom Harrison, the ex-Leicester scrum guru, has helped. Either way, here is an example of Heyes' influence as Pumas loosehead Thomas Gallo is penalised by Luc Ramos for failing to drive straight:
Asher Opoku-Fordjour did enliven England with a fabulous carry late on in San Juan, though Heyes had laid the foundations as he had done in the first Test. Indeed, the sunny outlook at tighthead prop is emblematic of how Borthwick has renewed this England squad.