July Internationals 2025 – Argentina vs England Game 1

Fifth in the world take on six as Argentina play host to England in La Plata on Saturday. The game is the first of two test matches between the teams in Argentina this month. It will also be the first of three between the teams in 2025. In addition to game two, in San Juan on July 12, the teams will meet in London in November. The trio of matches have World Rankings on the line; a fact of note given rankings will seed teams for the Rugby World Cup 2027 draw in December.

FORM GUIDE

Current World Ranking: 5 (84.97 points)
2024-06-20 – British & Irish Lions 24-28 Argentina (Dublin, IE)

Current World Ranking: 6 (84.73 points)
2025-06-21 – England XV 24-26 France XV (London, GB-ENG)
2025-03-15 – Wales 14-68 England (GB-CYM)
2025-03-09 – England 47-24 Italy (London, GB-ENG)
2025-02-22 – England 16-15 Scotland (London, GB-ENG)
2025-02-08 – England 26-25 France (London, GB-ENG)
2025-02-01 – Ireland 27-22 England (Dublin, IE)

+ STARTING LINEUP CHANGES (from vs + vs )

	IN	OUT
3	Pedro Delgado	Joel Sclavi
4	Lucas Paulos	Franco Molina
8	Facundo Isa	Joaquín Oviedo
9	Gonzalo Bertranou	Gonzalo García
10	Santiago Carreras	Tomás Albornoz
11	Santiago Cordero	Ignacio Mendy
15	Benjamín Elizalde	Santiago Carreras

	IN	OUT
5	Charlie Ewels	Nick Isiekwe
6	Ben Curry	Ted Hill
7	Sam Underhill	Guy Pepper
11	Will Muir	Immanuel Feyi-Waboso
15	Freddie Stewart	Joe Carpenter

ARGENTINA + ENGLAND DEBUTANTS

– B Bernasconi (HK), S Benítez Cruz (SH), N Roger (FH), B Elizalde (FB)

– S Atkinson (CE), W Muir (WI), G Pepper (FL)

+ MOST CAPS

– P Matera (109), J Montoya (105), M Moroni (89), G Bertranou (67), S Cordero (54), S Carreras (53)

– J George (101), G Ford (99), H Slade (72), S Underhill (40), F Stewart (36), C Ewels (31)

+ LEAST CAPS

– J Moro (1), J Piccardo (1), F Coria Marchetti (1), P Delgado (2)

– A Opoku-Fordjour (1), C Murley (1), T Roebuck (4)

+ NOTABLE ABSENTEES

– I Calles (LH), I Ruiz (HK), E Bello (TH), J Sclavi (TH), F Molina (LO), G Petti (LO), M Kremer (FL), J Oviedo (N8), G García (SH), T Albornoz (FH), S Chocobares (CE), E Boffelli (WI), M Carreras (WI), B Delguy (WI), JC Mallía (FB)

– E Genge (LH), L Cowan-Dickie (HK), W Stuart (TH), O Chessum (LO), M Itoje (LO), T Curry (FL), B Earl (N8), A Mitchell (SH), O Farrell (FH), F Smith (FH), T Freeman (WI), M Smith (FB), E Daly (FB)

NOTES

La Plata hosts Argentina vs England for the first time. The city hosted Los Pumas vs Wallabies in 2024.
The test match is the first of a two-match series. Game two will be in San Juan on July 12.
The match is the first between Argentina and England since the Bronze Final at Rugby World Cup 2023.
Felipe Contepomi continues to invest in the future with uncapped and recent debutants receiving opportunities ahead of established veterans.
Facundo Isa is back for the first time since RWC 2023. He sat out test duty in 2024 by choice.
Benjamín Elizalde makes his test debut as the starting fullback.
Replacements Bautista Bernasconi, Simón Benítez Cruz and Nicolás Roger are also all debutants.
Bernasconi and Benítez Cruz played against the British & Irish Lions; however, caps were not rewarded.
Pablo Matera earns his 110th test cap. This sees him equaling the Pumas record held by Agustín Creevy.
England co-captain, George Ford, will earn his 100th cap. He does so at the age of 32.
Ford will become the 7th English centurion. He follows Ben Youngs (127), Dan Cole (118), Jason Leonard (114), Owen Farrell (112), Courtney Lawes (105), Jamie George (101) and Danny Care (101).
Seb Atkinson and Will Muir debut at center and wing while Guy Pepper will debut as a replacement.
Argentine second-rower Lucas Paulos was raised in Spain while England replacement Chandler Cunningham-South was raised in New Zealand.
England’s roster is entirely made up of players who play in the English Premiership.
Nine of the match-day Pumas played in the English Premiership this past season: Santiago Carreras, Lucio Cinti, Benjamín Elizalde, Juan Martín González, Santiago Grondona, Rodrigo Isgró Julián Montoya, Pedro Rubiolo and Mayco Vivas.
Joaquín Moro is on his way to the Leicester Tigers for the new season.
The match will be officiated by Angus Gardner (Australia). He does not speak Spanish.

PREDICTION

Both teams are below full-strength. England is missing players to the British & Irish Lions while Argentina is juggling players to deal with the lack of rest time as rugby continues to lack a global season. Warm-up matches saw an England XV narrow beaten by a France XV and Argentina overcoming the British & Irish Lions. Overcast conditions are forecast for Saturday. They will come together with a breeze from the north which will affect both tactical kicking and goal-kicking. Argentina are favorites to win in La Plata.

LINE-UPS

ARGENTINA

#	PLAYER	FROM	CAPS
1	Mayco Vivas	Rafaela	27
2	Julián Montoya	Buenos Aires	105
3	Pedro Delgado	Santiago del Estero	2
4	Lucas Paulos	Buenos Aires	14
5	Pedro Rubiolo	Rafaela	20
6	Pablo Matera	Buenos Aires	109
7	Juan Martín González	Mendoza	40
8	Facundo Isa	Santiago del Estero	51
9	Gonzalo Bertranou	Mendoza	67
10	Santiago Carreras	Córdoba	53
11	Santiago Cordero	Buenos Aires	54
12	Justo Piccardo	Buenos Aires	1
13	Lucio Cinti	La Plata	32
14	Rodrigo Isgró	Mendoza	7
15	Benjamín Elizalde	Salta	–

16	Bautista Bernasconi	Buenos Aires	–
17	Thomas Gallo	Tucumán	35
18	Francisco Coria Marchetti	Tucumán	1
19	Santiago Grondona	Buenos Aires	19
20	Joaquín Moro	Bahía Blanca	1
21	Simón Benítez Cruz	Buenos Aires	–
22	Nicolás Roger	Santiago del Estero	–
23	Matías Moroni	Buenos Aires	89

ENGLAND

#	PLAYER	CLUB	CAPS
1	Fin Baxter	Harlequins	11
2	Jamie George	Saracens	101
3	Joe Hayes	Leicester Tigers	12
4	Charlie Ewels	Bath	31
5	Alex Coles	Northampton Saints	7
6	Ben Curry	Sale Sharks	11
7	Sam Underhill	Bath	40
8	Tom Willis	Saracens	6
9	Ben Spencer	Bath	8
10	George Ford	England	99
11	Will Muir	Bath	–
12	Seb Atkinson	Gloucester	–
13	Henry Slade	Exeter Chiefs	72
14	Tom Roebuck	Sale Sharks	4
15	Freddie Stewart	Leicester Tigers	36

16	Theo Dan	Saracens	17
17	Bevan Rodd	Sale Sharks	7
18	Asher Opoku-Fordjour	Sale Sharks	1
19	Chandler Cunningham-South	Harlequins	15
20	Guy Pepper	Bath	–
21	Alex Donbrandt	Harlequins	20
22	Jack van Poortvliet	Leicester Tigers	18
23	Cadan Murley	Harlequins	1

MATCH INFO

Date: Saturday, July 05
Kickoff: 4:40pm (AR); 8:40pm (GB-ENG)
Venue: Estadio Jorge Hirschi, La Plata (AR)
Broadcasts: ESPN, Disney + (Argentina)
Weather Forecast: Cloudy 13°; Wind N 10 km/h

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Luc Ramos (France); Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)

HISTORY vs (1981-2023)

10-27-2023 – England 26-23 Argentina (Paris, FR)*
09-09-2023 – England 27-10 Argentina (Marseille, FR) *
11-06-2022 – England 29-30 Argentina (London, UK)
10-05-2019 – England 39-10 Argentina (Tokyo, JP) *
11-11-2017 – England 21-8 Argentina (London, UK)
06-17-2017 – Argentina 25-35 England (Santa Fe, AR)
06-10-2017 – Argentina 34-38 England (San Juan, AR)
11-26-2016 – England 27-14 Argentina (London, UK)
11-09-2013 – England 31-12 Argentina (London, UK)
06-15-2013 – Argentina 26-51 England (Buenos Aires, AR)
06-08-2013 – Argentina 3-32 England (Salta, AR)
09-10-2011 – England 13-9 Argentina (Dunedin, NZ) *
11-14-2009 – England 16-9 Argentina (London, UK)
06-13-2009 – Argentina 24-22 England (Salta, AR)
06-06-2009 – England 37-15 Argentina (Manchester, UK)
11-11-2006 – England 18-25 Argentina (London, UK)
06-22-2002 – Argentina 28-26 England (Buenos Aires, UK)
11-25-2000 – England 19-0 Argentina (London, UK)
06-07-1997 – Argentina 33-13 England (Buenos Aires, AR)
05-31-1997 – Argentina 20-46 England (Buenos Aires, AR)
12-14-1996 – England 20-18 Argentina (London, UK)
05-27-1995 – England 24-18 Argentina (Durban, ZA) *
11-03-1990 – England 51-0 Argentina (London, UK)
08-04-1990 – Argentina 15-13 England (Buenos Aires, AR)
07-28-1990 – Argentina 12-25 England (Buenos Aires, AR)
06-06-1981 – Argentina 6-12 England (Buenos Aires, AR)
05-30-1981 – Argentina 19-19 England (Buenos Aires, AR)