All the pressure is on England - Argentina coach Daniel Hourcade

09 November 2017 05:24

Argentina coach Daniel Hourcade insists all the pressure will be on England at Twickenham on Saturday.

The Pumas have won just one match in 2017 and lost all six games in the recent Rugby Championship against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

Hourcade's position is under the spotlight ahead of the autumn series opener, and England boss Eddie Jones began the mind games by saying: "Their coach is under a lot of pressure. The players are under pressure."

But Hourcade hit back on Thursday, insisting: "You are always under pressure at the top level. The pressure is perhaps more on England.

"They are number two in the world, we are number 10. We are playing here, in the last part of our season. I think England have the pressure on top of us.

"If we lose it would be logical but if they lose it wouldn't. They have the pressure.

"We all know how Eddie is, perhaps some things he says are not true. We want to play on the field."

Nevertheless, Hourcade has turned to an old head in the shape of veteran fly-half Juan Martin Hernandez.

The 35-year-old has started just one match this year but gets the nod at number 10 ahead of Nicolas Sanchez.

"We want to take advantage of Juan Martin's experience," added Hourcade.

"Everyone knows how good a player he is. Time moves for everyone but he is a player with the capacity to adapt to any sort of game.

"Before he was the conductor but now our game plan is a bit more dynamic. He knows how to manage game time, to go faster or slower depending on the game.

"That is really important for the team."

Argentina narrowly lost two Tests against England, who were without any of their Lions players, at home in June and were beaten 27-14 at Twickenham last year.

"We have had some ups and downs," admitted Hourcade. "But we have done very good things during the Championship and against England.

"What we need is to play at the same level for 80 minutes.

"England are a complete team, really efficient, but they have some weak points. The strategy will be to attack those weak points."

Source: PA