Argentina v England predictions and Rugby World Cup tips: Red Rose to end promising campaign on a high

Argentina v England

ITV1, 8pm on Friday

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England -7
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Henry Arundell to score a try
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Argentina v England predictions

The battle for third and fourth place at the Rugby World Cup is billed as the match no one wants to play, but France and Ireland can justifiably feel aggrieved that history will rank Argentina's and England's performances at this tournament above theirs.

The lop-sided draw has long been a bone of contention and the upshot was that two teams well down the world rankings and the tournament betting ended up in the semi-finals.

England can at least point to the fact they were the only unbeaten team in the last four and they put in their best performance against South Africa in the semi-finals, leading from the third minute to the 78th before they were pipped by a point.

Argentina, by contrast, lost their opening match 27-10 to 14-man England, trailed Wales 10-0 in the quarter-final before two late tries saw them though, but then barely laid a glove on New Zealand in a 44-6 semi-final defeat.

And England definitely look the team in better spirits for this third-place contest after their battling performance last weekend, while coach Steve Borthwick has rung the changes and his side look fresher for the battle in store.

There are eight changes to the England side beaten by the Boks last week, as Marcus Smith returns at full-back while Henry Arundell, who ran in five tries on his one start against Chile, gets another chance on the wing.

But it's not a complete overhaul as Owen Farrell is kept on at fly-half, outside another Test centurion in Ben Youngs at scrum-half, while Ben Earl, who made some attacking inroads against a tough South Africa defence, is again at number eight.

Argentina have made only three changes to their side and their players were noticeably flagging at the end of their heavy loss to the All Blacks. This could be a match too far for a demoralised Pumas team and England look well equipped to cover a seven-point handicap.

Bronze finals understandably tend to lack the intensity of other knockout games as the pressure is off and teams tend to give fringe players a go, and at three of the last four World Cups the third-placed has won this match by a double-figure margin. England were pipped by one point by Argentina at Twickenham last November but that result ended a run of ten straight defeats for the Pumas, and eight of England's last nine victories in this fixture have also been by a double-figure scoreline.

And as well as backing a comfortable England win, take the odds-against about Arundell getting on the scoresheet again. The 20-year-old famously scored with his first touch on his debut off the bench in Australia then scored again against Italy in this year's Six Nations, so his five-try haul against Chile gives him a remarkable international tally of seven tries in just three games.

Teams

Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia; 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Mateo Carreras; 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Tomas Cubelli; 1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julian Montoya, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Facundo Isa
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Joel Sclavi, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Nicolas Sanchez, 23 Matías Moroni 

England: 15 Marcus Smith; 14 Freddie Steward, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Henry Arundell; 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Theo Dan, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Ollie Chessum, 6 Tom Curry, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Ben Earl
Replacements:  16 Jamie George, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Dan Cole, 19 David Ribbans, 20 Lewis Ludlam, 21 Danny Care, 22 George Ford, 23 Ollie Lawrence 

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