July Internationals 2025 – Argentina vs England Game 2

Argentina play host to England in San Juan on Saturday. The match is the second of two in the July series and the second of three between the teams this year. England’s impressive win in La Plata saw the teams swapping positions in the World Rankings. It means 6th hosts 5th in San Juan. World Rankings will seed teams for the Rugby World Cup 2027 draw in December.

FORM GUIDE

Current World Ranking: 6 (82.98 points)
2025-07-05 – Argentina 12-35 England (La Plata, AR)
2025-06-20 – British & Irish Lions 24-28 Argentina (Dublin, IE)

Current World Ranking: 5 (86.72 points)
2025-07-05 – Argentina 12-35 England (La Plata, AR)
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 La Plata)

	IN	OUT
1	Thomas Gallo	Mayco Vivas
3	Francisco Gómez Kodela	Pedro Delgado
4	Guido Petti	Lucas Paulos
6	Santiago Grondona	Pablo Matera
8	Pablo Matera	Facundo Isa
9	Simón Benítez Cruz	Gonzalo Bertranou
11	Ignacio Mendy	Santiago Cordero
14	Matías Moroni	Rodrigo Isgró

	IN	OUT
13	Luke Northmore	Henry Slade

ARGENTINA + ENGLAND DEBUTANTS

– B Grondona (FL), A Moyano (SH)

– L Northmore (CE)

+ MOST CAPS

– P Matera (110), J Montoya (106), M Moroni (90), S Cordero (55), S Carreras (54)

– J George (102), G Ford (100), H Slade (73), S Underhill (41), F Stewart (37), C Ewels (32)

+ LEAST CAPS

– B Bernasconi (1), S Benítez Cruz (1), N Roger (1), B Elizalde (FB), J Moro (2), J Piccardo (2), P Delgado (3)

– S Atkinson (1), W Muir (1), G Pepper (1), A Opoku-Fordjour (2), C Murley (2), T Roebuck (5)

+ 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 Bertranou (SH), G García (SH), T Albornoz (FH), S Chocobares (CE), E Boffelli (WI), M Carreras (WI), R Isgró (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

England’s only alteration sees Luke Northmore replacing the injured Henry Slade at outside center. Northmore will make his test debut.
Benjamín Grondona and Agustín Moyano are set to debut for Argentina as replacements. Benjamín Grondona is the younger brother of flanker, Santiago Grondona. They both play for Bristol Bears.
Pablo Matera overtakes Agustín Creevy’s Pumas record of 110 caps. He will earn his 11th cap on Saturday. Matera debuted against Chile in 2013. He has the most caps against New Zealand.
Francisco Gómez Kodela starts at tight head for Argentina at the age of 40.
Scrum-half Simón Benítez Cruz earns his first test start. Gonzalo Bertranou is out through injury while Gonzalo García is on vacation.
2025 European Champion, Guido Petti returns to the team to for his first cap of 2025.
Argentina’s loss in La Plata saw a fall in the World Rankings from 6th to 5th and from 84.97 to 82.98 points. England’s big win saw a rise to 5th in the world.
San Juan most recently hosted Los Pumas in the 2022 Rugby Championship. Argentina were 48-17 winners over Australia. Returnees involved include try scorers Thomas Gallo and Juan Martín González.
San Juan has hosted 6 previous test matches. The first was Argentina vs Chile in 2007.
England’s 23 players to face Argentina in San Juan all play in the English Premiership.
Julián Montoya captained Leicester Tigers to the 2025 English Premiership Final.
Montoya joins Pau in France for the new season while Mayco Vivas has moved from Gloucester to Oyonnax.
Guido Petti joins Harlequins. The additional Premiership Pumas to face England in San Juan are: Pedro Rubiolo, Santiago Grondona, Juan Martín González, Santiago Carreras, Lucio Cinti, Benjamín Elizalde, and Benjamín Grondona.

PREDICTION

As was the case in La Plata, both teams are below full-strength. England adjusted to with great success while Argentina were exposed and soundly second-best on the day. On the one hand, Felipe Contepomi will need to reshape tactics and the players execute the plan far better. On the other hand, England can look to fine-tune their game in order to wrap up a series win. Conditions for came two are forecast as being relatively warm and sunny. England are favorites to win in La Plata.

LINE-UPS

ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Santiago Grondona, 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Pablo Matera, 9 Simón Benítez Cruz, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Ignacio Mendy, 12 Justo Piccardo, 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Matías Moroni, 15 Benjamín Elizalde

Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Pedro Delgado, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Benjamín Grondona, 22 Agustín Moyano, 23 Nicolás Roger

ENGLAND
1 Fin Baxter, 2 Jamie George (capt.), 3 Joe Heyes, 4 Charlie Ewels, 5 Alex Coles, 6 Ben Curry, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Tom Willis, 9 Ben Spencer, 10 George Ford, 11 Will Muir, 12 Seb Atkinson, 13 Luke Northmore, 14 Tom Roebuck, 15 Freddie Steward

Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Chandler Cunningham-South, 20 Guy Pepper, 21 Alex Dombrandt, 22 Jack van Poortvliet, 23 Cadan Murley

MATCH INFO

Date: Saturday, July 12
Kickoff: 4:40pm (AR); 8:40pm (GB-ENG)
Venue: Estadio Centenario, San Juan (AR)
Broadcasts: ESPN, Disney + (Argentina)
Weather Forecast: Sunny 19°; Wind N 3 km/h

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Luc Ramos (France)
Assistant Referees: Angus Gardner (Australia); Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
TMO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)

HISTORY vs (1981-2023)

07-05-2024 – Argentina 12-35 England (La Plata, AR)
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)