England have seen more of Argentina this year than at any time since 1990 but, after this afternoon’s match at Twickenham, the next time they meet will be on the World Cup stage. Today’s is the third game with the Pumas this year, with the score standing at 1-1, although how much relevance these results will have on September 10, 2011, is a moot point.
On that day the countries at present ranked eighth (England) and sixth (Argentina) in the world play their World Cup pool game in Christchurch. By then both squads will have changed significantly; England were without their Lions during the June matches at Old Trafford and in Salta and are denuded by injuries now. Argentina’s back division is well below strength today and age may have caught up with some of their forwards by 2011.
Yet so many players will feel that this afternoon could serve as a marker for the next global tournament, none more than Paul Hodgson. For the first time in a senior career that goes back seven seasons to his first appearance for Bristol — whose regular scrum half was Agustín Pichot, the then Argentina scrum half and captain — Hodgson has been picked to start for England and it is an opportunity he must take.
Hodgson, 27, began the season as he knew he would, behind Harry Ellis and Danny Care, but injury has removed Ellis, and Care endured a difficult day against Australia a week ago behind a pack that even its coach described as turgid. Since September, Hodgson has been arguably the form scrum half in the Guinness Premiership, in a London Irish side ambitious to win the trophies that have been so elusive during the professional era.
He is, if you like, the archetypal No 9: short, bouncy, bossy (he would probably prefer to say communicative), all qualities desirable in a half back. “There are not many quiet 9s around,” Hodgson said and, even when he was operating a fortnight ago as a water carrier for his club in their game with Harlequins, he was almost as involved as his playing colleagues.
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The conversations in his room at England’s base in Bagshot, Surrey, this week must have been fascinating. He has been rooming with Jonny Wilkinson, his half-back partner and England’s most experienced player, but it is easy to believe that Hodgson’s contribution to the exchanges would have been at least the equal of his colleague. It is relevant that Hodgson has had the chance to immerse himself in the game at grassroots level and in the second tier of professional rugby, strata of the game that have made him a better teacher and student.
As a youngster he spent 13 years with Sutton & Epsom, and, more often than not, will still be found there on a Sunday, or at Dorking, encouraging the next generation. He also spent a season with Bristol in National Division One, playing against such nuggety scrum halves as Dave Scully and nailing down his core skills with a coach, in Richard Hill, whose work ethic as a player was legendary.
He remembers, too, a skills course with Kyran Bracken, the former England scrum half, at Saracens when Hodgson was a member of England’s under-18s that “taught me more in 45 minutes than I had ever learnt before”. You sense in Hodgson a sponge, absorbing the wisdom of others — among them another former international scrum half, Brian Smith, at London Irish even before Smith became the England attack coach — and now eager to demonstrate the fruits.
Working at Epsom, he says, keeps him humble. But humility is not what England want from him today: this is a squad desperate to show improvement, aware that the Twickenham crowd (which will be only 4,000 short of capacity) expect Argentina to be beaten. Then, of course, there is the little matter of New Zealand, whom England do not want to face next Saturday with two defeats behind them.
If the weather turns out as predicted, windy and wet, this will be a difficult match to win. A restricted game plays to Argentina’s strength in the tight forwards and demands control, from the new combination of Hodgson and James Haskell at scrum half and No 8, from Wilkinson’s tactical kicking, from greater security in the tackle than was shown in the 18-9 loss to Australia. Hodgson’s mind may go back to a dirty night in Dublin when London Irish beat Leinster, the holders, on the opening weekend of the Heineken Cup last month.
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But that game also demonstrated a close-passing ability that England utterly lacked last weekend. They would love to test the qualities of an inexperienced Argentina back division but first they must move the game away from the gnarled tight forwards and the driving game of Juan Martín Fern?ndez Lobbe, the Argentina captain. Fern?ndez Lobbe, no doubt, has spent some time this week reminding his players that they came to Twickenham three years ago and won for the first time on English soil.
Of their 25 points that day, 22 came from a fly half, Federico Todeschini, who has not won selection this time, which speaks well of Santiago Fern?ndez. The truth is that England, familiar with the conditions, with home support, should have the conviction to win and secure bragging rights before New Zealand in 2011. But if they are dragged into a tight game, by the passion of Argentina’s approach or through the weather, then this match could leave them bruised when the All Blacks arrive from Italy tomorrow.
England: 15 U Monye, 14 M Cueto, 13 D Hipkiss, 12 S Geraghty, 11 M Banahan; 10 J Wilkinson, 9 P Hodgson; 1 T Payne, 2 D Hartley, 3 D Bell, 4 L Deacon, 5 S Borthwick (capt), 6 T Croft, 7 L Moody 8, J Haskell. Replacements: 16 S Thompson, 17 P Doran-Jones, 18 C Lawes, 19 J Worsley, 20 D Care, 21 A Goode, 22 A Erinle.
Argentina: 15 H Agulla; 14 L Borges, 13 G Tiesi, 12 M Rodríguez, 11 M Comuzzi; 10 S Fern?ndez, 9 A Lalanne, 1 R Roncero, 2 M Ledesma, 3 M Scelzo, 4 E Lozada, 5 P Albacete, 6 T Leonardi, 7 A Abadie, 8 J M Fern?ndez Lobbe (capt). Replacements: 16 A Vernet Basualdo, 17 M Ayerza, 18 M Carizza, 19 A Campos, 20 A Figuerola, 21 B Urdapilleta, 22 F Martín Aramburú