Eddie Jones has been warned their World Cup pool rivals Argentina have expectations for the tournament every bit as high as England do.
The sides are in the pool of death in Japan this autumn, with only two to qualify for the quarter-finals from a section which also includes France.
French rugby is on a high after retaining the Junior World Cup last month, while Buenos Aires-based Super Rugby team Jaguares have the chance this weekend to make history by winning their homeland's first southern hemisphere club championship.
And whether they win or lose in the final, which kicks off at 8.30am Saturday UK time, against New Zealand's perennial top-dogs Crusaders, Pumas legend Hugo Porta believes his country is in great shape to contend for the World Cup.
“We are going to have a very competitive team,” he said. “My expectations are that as long as we don’t have many injuries the team is going to be very hard to beat.”
Argentina have had top-four finishes at two of the last three World Cups, and across those tournaments won two games more than England did.
“England is one of the teams everyone is expecting to arrive at the final,” said Porta, who during a magical career won 58 caps for the Pumas between 1971 and 1990.
“They’re going to be very dangerous for Argentina. Eddie Jones is a great coach, he has coached against us many times and I’m sure will have a plan to make life difficult. But if you want to win the World Cup you have to beat the best and in Argentina there is big expectation. Many, many people are going to Japan to support the Pumas.”
After naming his 38-man World Cup training squad on Thursday, Jones said he believed England had the “skill, the experience and the collective desire” to become champions.
* Hugo Porta was speaking at the Laureus XPL Polo Cup, an event which raises funds to support the work of Laureus in Argentina.
