Nations Championship: England rugby players to avoid wearing national shirts in Argentina as football counterparts face off at World Cup | Rugby Union News

England’s rugby players have revealed they will avoid wearing national shirts in Argentina this week, ahead of facing the Pumas in Saturday’s Nations Championship Test in Santiago del Estero.

Steve Borthwick’s side will be in Buenos Aires when Wednesday’s FIFA World Cup semi-final between England and Argentina takes place.

The squad wore England jerseys in support of the football team for last Saturday’s quarter-final against Norway, but did so in Liverpool after defeating Fiji earlier in the day.

“I think, bearing in mind where we are and who we’re playing with, we’ve been pretty sensible about not wearing our English shirts around too much,” lock Alex Coles told The Telegraph.

“We had them all out in Liverpool and got a bit of a better reception than we might do here.

“I definitely love my football. I think there’s a fair bunch of us that do. We watched the previous game after our game at the weekend, on in a rooftop bar in Liverpool, and it was very cool. Everyone was getting very excited.

“We’re very proud to represent our country playing rugby, and I think that translates to real excitement around watching England in any sport, and World Cup fever – it is sort of like no other with the football, isn’t it?

“It captures the imagination of the globe in a way that no other sport can. It’s really special, and I think it’s the sport that I grew up watching first before rugby and cricket, football was the thing I was obsessed with.”

England wing Tommy Freeman said the squad are ready for an “angry” atmosphere and contest against the Pumas on Saturday, should England’s footballers prove victorious in Atlanta.

“We’ll see how hostile it gets,” said Freeman.

“It’s big for Argentina and us and being here it’s heightened massively. I think they’ll probably be angry if we win so Saturday could be a tough game.

“We know they’re a passionate country. We are too and they’ll want to compete to the fullest and we’ll be ready for that.”