England v Argentina match preview, team news & stats

Manu Tuilagi will start at inside centre against Argentina for the second time during the 2023 World Cup

England will finish their World Cup campaign with the third-place play-off match against Argentina on Friday - the side they began the tournament against.

Steve Borthwick's side beat Fiji in the quarter-final before losing to South Africa in the semi-finals.

Argentina overcame Wales in the quarter-finals but were soundly beaten by New Zealand in the last four.

A third-place finish for 2003 winners England is likely to be deemed a success after they started the tournament ranked eighth in the world after a poor run of results.

Meanwhile, a bronze medal for the South American side would equal their best finish at a World Cup when they came third the last time it was staged in France in 2007.

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Team news

Tom Curry, who was sent off in the third minute of the pool game in September, is one of seven England players to retain their place in the starting XV despite a week of controversy.

Curry claimed South Africa hooker Bongi Mbonambi used a racial slur during England's semi-final defeat but World Rugby said there was "insufficient evidence" and closed the investigation.

Marcus Smith returns to full-back after missing the defeat by the Springboks and Henry Arundell is recalled on the wing as two of eight changes.

Scrum-half Ben Youngs makes his first start of the tournament in his final England appearance before retiring from the international game.

Argentina have made three changes from the side that was comfortably beaten by New Zealand in the semi-final.

Pedro Rubiolo starts in the second-row, Tomas Cubelli is named at scrum-half and Jeronimo de la Fuente will begin the game at inside centre.

Head coach Michael Chieka has kept faith with 19 of the matchday squad which faced England in the opening game.

Line-ups

England: Smith; Steward, Marchant, Tuilagi, Arundell; Farrell (capt), Youngs; Genge, Dan, Stuart, Itoje, Chessum, Curry, Underhill, Earl.

Replacements: George, Rodd, Cole, Ribbans, Ludlam, Care, Ford, Lawrence.

Argentina: Mallia; Boffelli, Cinti, De la Fuente, M Carreras; S Carreras, Cubelli; Gallo, Montoya (capt), Kodela, Pagadizabal, Rubiolo, Gonzalez, Kremer, Isa.

Replacements: Creevy, Sclavi, Bello, Alemanno, Bruni, Velez, Sanchez, Moroni.

View from England's camp

England attack coach Richard Wigglesworth: "We've seen progress and are pleased and proud of the players. If we get Friday night right and do our job to the best of our ability then we have a good chance of leaving the tournament with some tangible reward and some satisfaction to go along with all the hard work.

"This is not the week you want to be playing in. You can be honest and say this isn't the game that these two teams aimed to play in. But we could have already been at home and we're not. If you're asking where you'd rather be, you'd rather be here participating in a World Cup."

View from Argentina's camp

Argentina head coach Michael Cheika: "Winning the bronze medal is very important. It's a Rugby World Cup. It is very nice and very important. For us, for everything we did and for the country, to be able to win bronze is to finish as high as we can.

"Also the experience for everyone in the group, for the future and the legacy of the most experienced players. Finishing as high as we can was always the goal."

Centre Jeronimo de la Fuente: "Without a doubt, wearing a medal is not the same as not wearing one. Returning home winning is not the same as losing. Everyone can have their opinion about what it means to win a medal.

"For us, it is the best way to finish the World Cup. Our goal was to play in the final, aim for gold. But we still have a chance to win a medal."

Match officials

Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)

Assistants: Andrew Brace (Ireland) and Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)

TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)

Match facts

Head-to-head stats

• England have won 11 of their last 12 Test matches against Argentina
• England have beaten Argentina in all four previous World Cup meetings

England

• England will play in the bronze final for the second time at the World Cup, losing their previous match at this stage against France in 1995
• England failed to score a try in their last meeting with Argentina after scoring one in their previous 19 meetings

Argentina

• Argentina will be playing in the bronze final for the third time in their history, beating France in 2007 but losing to South Africa in 2015
• Argentina have won five of their six World Cup knockout games against European opposition
• Marcos Kremer has played the most minutes of any player at this World Cup (451). He has also made the most tackles of any player at the tournament with 74
• If Agustin Creevy comes on for his 108th Test, the 38-year-old hooker will join England's Jason Leonard and New Zealand's Richie McCaw as the second-most capped Rugby World Cup players with 22 appearances