England v Argentina Match Preview - Churchill Cup

By Toni
May 15 2006

England A team take on Argentina in the Final of the Churchill Cup 26/6/05. Match shown live on Sky Sports 1 - Kick off 2200 hrs.

England vs Argentina - Churchill Cup Final 26/6/05

England A team take on the Pumas in the Final of the Churchill Cup

Apparently there’s some rugby thing going on in New Zealand at the moment, so most people’s attentions are tuned to the Southern hemisphere for their rugby fix. But away from the most hyped Lions tour of all time, there’s some pretty interesting stuff going on north of the equator as well.

The Churchill Cup stems back to the last Lions tour. Whilst the majority of English players went to Australia to attempt a test victory alongside their British and Irish friends, an under-strength England side flew to America to compete in the first ever Churchill Cup.

Popularity is slowly but steadily increasing in America, and it was decided that if the USA Eagles were to stand any chance about big name opposition, they needed to be exposed to a top rank team at regular intervals. So every year since 2001, England have been venturing across the Atlantic to play the USA and Canada, as well as an invitation team.

This year, the invitation team is Argentina, another team – like the USA and Canada – who are trying to develop but are starved of regular fixtures against the big teams. So, this Sunday, Canada will play the USA in the consolation final and England will play Argentina in the actual final.

Despite Clive Woodward and his Lions taking a jaw-dropping 23 English players down to New Zealand, the fifteen starters for the final are by no means poor in quality or experience. If a second string England can name players of such a calibre as James Simpson-Daniel, Andy Goode, Chris Jones, Andy Gomarsall, Mathew Tait and Tom Voyce – English rugby is looking pretty healthy.

England secured their place in the final with a lacklustre victory 29 points to 5 victory over Canada. On the same day, Argentina managed to just edge past the more than competitve US with a close 34 points to 30 victory.

England have named a strong squad for Sunday’s clash, making four changes to the starting line up that beat Canada. Two players who started the last match on the bench – hooker Lee Mears and scrum half Pete Richards – now start, with the impressive Tim Voyce is promoted from the bench to fullback, and previous England unfortunate Mathew Tait (who probably still has a Gavin Henson-shaped bruise) makes his tournament debut.

Andy Goode, the Leicester Tigers fly-half who has been on dazzling form all season, has said in the pre-match interviews that Argentina are a “step up” from Canada. Whilst this is true, it should still be an England win, taking them to yet another Churchill Cup victory.

The full team is as follows:

ENGLAND 15 VOYCE, Tom – London Wasps 14 SACKEY, Paul - London Wasps 13 SIMPSON-DANIEL, James - Gloucester 12 BELL, Chris - Leeds Tykes 11 TAIT, Mathew – Newcastle Falcons 10 GOODE, Andy - Leicester Tigers 9 RICHARDS, Peter - London Wasps 1 FRESHWATER, Perry - Perpignan (Vice Captain) 2 MEARS, Lee - Bath 3 TURNER, Stuart – Sale Sharks 4 DEACON, Louis – Leicester Tigers 5 PALMER, Tom – Leeds Tykes 6 JONES, Chris –Sale Sharks 7 SANDERSON, Pat – Worcester Warriors (Captain) 8 DOWSON, Phil – Newcastle Falcons

Replacements 16 CHUTER George – Leicester Tigers 17 SHELLEY, Mike- Leeds Tykes 18 HOOPER, Stuart - Leeds Tykes 19 FORRESTER, James – Gloucester 20 GOMARSALL, Andy - Gloucester 21 ERINLE, Ayoola - London Wasps 22 HIGGINS, Andy – Bath