England vs Argentina Prediction & Betting Tips - Rugby World Cup

Prediction published on 07/09/2023, 10:42  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 09/09/2023 at 07:00 in Rugby World Cup Prediction

England take on Argentina in the first match of Pool D of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The other countries in this pool are Japan, Samoa and Chile with the top two going into the quarter finals. England come into this Rugby World Cup under a bit of a cloud. Form has not been good in recent months but only once in 2015 have they failed to make it into the knockout stages. They won two of their matches in the Six Nations this year (against Wales and Italy) but since then have only had one win in the four friendlies they have played. That was against Wales but they also lost to the Welsh side as well as Ireland and Fiji in their last two matches played. They have included Jonny May and Alex Mitchell in their starting line-up for this match. That's despite them not being named in the initial 33-man squad named for this Rugby World Cup. They will be without their captain Owen Farrell. He's suspended for the first two matches of this tournament. Another player missing through suspension is Billy Vunipola. They do however have George Ford at fly-half. 

Argentina along with England are expected to fill the top two spots in this pool. This match may well determine therefore who will finish in top place. Likely quarter final opponents are Wales and Australia so a decent chance for the sides in Pool D to reach the last four. Argentina reached that stage in both 2005 and 2019 but failed to get into the knockout rounds four years ago. They have also been struggling for form in the build-up to this Rugby World Cup. The Pumas have lost five of their last seven internationals with the only wins coming against Australia in the Rugby Championship (by three points) and Spain. They last met England in November 2022 and won at Twickenham by a single point. That ended a run of ten straight wins for England over the Pumas. This could be a close match and we go for England to get a narrow victory.