Rugby Union: Sam Underhill to make England debut in Argentina as Chris Robshaw returns

Ten new caps last weekend for England – but only the one this. Sam Underhill has been picked by Eddie Jones to start the second Test against Argentina at the Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao López. His inexperience, however, is counterbalanced by a rather more familiar proposition on the other flank of England’s scrum, where Chris Robshaw returns from injury to play his first Test in six months.

“It’s great to welcome back Robshaw into the squad,” Jones said. “He has been one of England’s best players over the last two years and he will add a lot of experience and work rate into our back row. It will also be exciting to see Sam make his debut.”

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The selections are harsh on the men who make way, Mark Wilson and Tom Curry, two of the new caps last weekend, who defied their inexperience to produce outstanding performances in the 38‑34 victory in the first Test. Wilson retires to the bench while Curry, who turned 19 on Thursday, the day his non-selection was announced, will have to wait for another opportunity to further his case.

Underhill is not much older – 21 next month – so the battle for England’s No7 shirt, recently a question of who did not get the No6, looks set to become intense, all the more so with Curry’s twin brother, Ben, also on this tour. “He [Underhill] is a good defensive player and reads the game well,” Jones said. “Attack-wise, the Ospreys use him as a ball runner but I have seen him play a more natural No7 role. He is put together. He obviously decided from an early age he wanted to be a No7 and he has got the body.”

Another making his first start is Piers Francis at inside centre, who impressed last weekend off the bench, whither Alex Lozowski is demoted. Francis, a 26‑year‑old from Kent, plays his rugby in New Zealand with the Blues, where he will return next week to finish the Super Rugby season before joining Northampton in the summer.

In his case England have proved flexible with their selection policy, which renders ineligible those who play outside the country.

Underhill, too, has been unavailable because of that policy, having played in Wales for the past two seasons while he studied economics at Cardiff University, but he is joining Bath after the tour. Notwithstanding, England have been investing in his future, deploying Richard Hill, England’s great flanker and now the team manager, to provide him with further seminars, these in the art of the back row.

Robshaw’s return helps improve England’s tally of caps in the starting team from the 345 of last week to 413. Dylan Hartley brings 86 of those to the party and will move clear of Lawrence Dallaglio and Rory Underwood into third place on England’s chart of cap-winners, nestled behind Jason Leonard and Jonny Wilkinson. At the other end of the experience spectrum, Jack Singleton, Hartley’s understudy, may yet become the second new cap of the day, having been the only player not to come on last Saturday.

His chances of winning that cap will no doubt turn on the nature of the match. If the scores are tied with 15 minutes to go, like last time, Jones may be reluctant to replace 86 of his team’s caps with zero, all the more so if, as he expects, the game tightens up after the sun-kissed pyrotechnics of San Juan.

“It’s going to be warm and humid, the ball might get slippery, so it may place more importance on the exiting and kicking game. We are prepared for both types of game. Argentina have lost 10 of their last 12 games, so they are going to be desperate. I am sure they are going to come out with enormous physicality. It will be another high-quality, high‑pressure game and that’s what we need to keep developing towards the World Cup.”

England Brown; Yarde, Slade, Francis, May; Ford, Care; Genge, Hartley (capt), Williams, Ewels, Launchbury, Robshaw, Underhill, Hughes. Replacements Singleton, Mullan, Collier, Isiekwe, Wilson, Maunder, Lozowski, Solomona.