Jones not cowed by the prospect of Argentina feasting on his England team

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Eddie Jones at team announcement

Eddie Jones insists Argentina will feast on beer and steak if they revive their season by defeating England on Saturday.

The Pumas have lost all but one of their nine Tests this year, dispatching only Georgia in June, and have been defeated in all three meetings with Jones' men - who they must also face in the pool phase of the 2019 World Cup.

Victory in the opening autumn international at Twickenham, however, would see them return to South America as conquering heroes according to the man plotting their downfall.

"Argentina are coming off the back of not a good season. Their coach (Daniel Hourcade) is under pressure, their players are under pressure," Jones said.

"But they know if they beat England at Twickenham then their whole season turns around.

"They can go back to Buenos Aires and sit on the beach as heroes. Everyone will want to buy them a beer. Everyone will want to buy them a steak.

"I'm confident we'll play well and if we play well enough the result will come our way. If they play better than us, they'll beat us. But we intend to play well."

Jones honoured his pledge to rest some of the British and Irish Lions involved in the summer tour to New Zealand by omitting Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje from the team to face Argentina.

The Australian stated last week that a number of the Lions who faced the All Blacks arrived into the Portugal training camp "deconditioned" and it is Farrell and Itoje who have been stood down.

"We always said we would look at each player individually to where they're up to and see what they needed to do. We decided to rest two," Jones said.

"I've picked the best 23 because we want to win this game against Argentina. It's very simple."

Henry Slade replaces Farrell at inside centre, holding off the challenge of Alex Lozowski who is named on the bench, while George Kruis and Courtney Lawes are paired in the second row.

"Henry's got a lot. He's got nice feet, good balance a good head. He's got some speed, courage - he's got everything there is," Jones said.

The openside duel was won by Sam Underhill, but his competitor for the seven jersey Tom Curry had to be withdrawn from the bench after sustaining a wrist injury in training on Thursday morning with Sam Simmonds taking his place.

"We've had a good battle between Underhill and Curry. They're genuine opensides. We've got Simmonds coming through," Jones said.

"We've got some good back rowers coming through. It's a new generation. They're athletically good. They've got a good attitude. It's very exciting.

Elliot Daly and Anthony Watson have been named on the wings after Jonny May failed to recover from a hamstring strain in time to be involved against the Pumas.

Daly was expected to miss the clashes with Argentina and Australia because of knee ligament damage but the injury was not as bad as his scan suggested and he has been passed fit.

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