Tokyo (AFP)

It will get warmer ! Between safe England and who can be the first nation to join the quarter-finals of the World Cup, and Argentina on the verge of elimination, the shock promises Saturday (10:00 French) in Tokyo.

. England "on a cloud"

"Everyone is fine, trained well, fit, fast, ready to draw." Eddie Jones spread his usual confidence on Friday. "We are never physically so well, this morning we are on a cloud."

Jones in the text, but how could the Australian hide when he just recovered his left pillar Mako Vunipola and winger or back Jack Nowell, both finally back from injury?

England is complete and scared at all positions, whether in the center (Farrell, Tuilagi), third (Billy Vunipola, Curry, Underhill) or second line (Itoje). And may first win his ticket to the quarterfinals in case of third success in as many games after those, subsidized, against Tonga (35-3) and the United States (45-7).

His schedule is also ideal: his last two pool opponents, the Pumas and France, offer him on paper a growing opposition before the knockout matches. Perfect to know exactly what wood the Rose is heating. As Jones says in one of his tasty formulas: "It's a bit like a tea bag ... you can not know if it's good before you put it in the hot water."

. Argentina ready for war

"Saturday will be like a war, it's a final for us." The term used by hooker Agustin Creevy has inevitably evoked the military conflict of the Malvinas Islands between the two countries (1982). But more than an archipelago lost in the Atlantic, it is points that the Pumas need to get back behind England and France, against which they narrowly failed (23-21).

"They should have won against France," said Jones. "All stats show that they should have won and they had a good win over Tonga (28-12), which is not the easiest opponent either," said the English coach who claims to have been "impressed" by the Pumas.

To prepare his players for the challenge that awaits them, Mario Ledesma has used another lever: the possibility for them "to write the history of the Pumas" against a team "candidate for the title" and who has "unlimited resources". The Argentine coach knows that a possible elimination is waiting for him in case of failure, which would mark a regression compared to 2015 when Argentina reached the semi-finals.

. "A battle of fronts"

The match will be played first in front, believes Creevy. "It will be a battle forwards, we must win in scrum, in touch, in the mauls and rucks," says the hooker, cadre Pumas (34 years, 87 selections) but who will replace Julian Montoya, already author 4 trials in this World.

It is the intensity put in the rucks that allowed the Pumas to be in a position to win the match against France. Jones knows it but asks his troops to show "intelligence" and "emotional control". "When you play with a lot of passion and pride," like the Argentines, "it tends to multiply the strengths and weaknesses," warns the technician.

Behind, for Ledesma, one of the keys of the match will be "the impulse given by the game at the foot" of pressure and occupation, an area in which the English excel. "You must give them as little space as possible," said the former hooker, who made a strong decision by dismissing opener Nicolas Sanchez, boss of the team since 2012 but disappointing against France, in favor of Benjamin Urdapilleta. The war has a cost.

© 2019 AFP