No start for Henry Pollock as unchanged England side named for Argentina clash
Henry Pollock has missed out on a place in England’s back row after Steve Borthwick named an unchanged team for Saturday’s clash with Argentina in Santiago del Estero.
Pollock delivered a hat-trick of dynamic tries against Fiji in Liverpool but his headline-grabbing 32-minute cameo off the bench has not been enough to displace Ben Earl at number eight.
A host of former England stars including Chris Ashton, Ben Youngs and Jeremy Guscott have called for his promotion to the starting XV, but Earl’s value as the team’s main ball carrier is seen as indispensable.
Borthwick has also resisted any temptation to break up the midfield combination of Seb Atkinson and Henry Slade, with Benhard Janse van Rensburg continuing on the bench having made his debut at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The only changes made are to the bench where Ben Spencer comes in for Alex Mitchell, who was ruled out of the visit to northern Argentina by a hamstring injury sustained, and Emmanuel Iyogun is preferred ahead of George Kloska.
Teenage wing sensation Noah Caluori is set to win his second cap off the bench after making a try-scoring debut in Liverpool.
England face the final fixture of their July tour having compiled an unbeaten record against Argentina under Borthwick, winning all five fixtures including two on these shores last summer.
The first phase of the Nations Championship opened with a 45-21 mauling to South Africa before last Saturday’s 11-try destruction of Fiji ended their five-Test losing run.
Borthwick said: “We expect a fantastic atmosphere with passionate home support. It promises to be a great occasion and one the players are excited to embrace.”
England: M Smith (Harlequins); T Freeman (Northampton), H Slade (Exeter), S Atkinson (Gloucester), I Feyi-Waboso (Exeter); F Smith (Northampton), J van Poortvliet (Leicester); E Genge (Bristol), J George (Saracens, capt), J Heyes (Leicester), A Coles (Northampton), G Martin (Saracens), O Chessum (Leicester), G Pepper (Bath), B Earl (Saracens).
Replacements: L Cowan-Dickie (Sale), E Iyogun (Northampton), A Opoku-Fordjour (Sale), T Curry (Sale), H Pollock (Northampton), B Spencer (Bath), B Janse van Rensburg (Bristol), N Caluori (Saracens).
