Argentina may lack the same set-piece power of old but England prop Dan Cole says their scrum remains a "force".

The Pumas' dominant scrum with feared props Marcos Ayerza and Ramiro Herrera helped them reach the 2015 semi-finals.

But Cole says Argentina's class of 2023, led by his Leicester team-mate Julian Montoya, are still "formidable".

"It's a force," said Cole. "You look at their team in the Rugby Championship, they're dangerous. If you have one scrummage where you are not fully focused they will do you damage and get stuck into you.

"They're a dangerous team and they've grown their game in other areas. We know what's coming up front.

"They love the physical contest. You speak to some of their front five - Tomas Lavanini when he was at Leicester and Montoya - and they relish the physical part of the game.

"Marcos Ayerza could talk for days about the scrum, both the physical and mental aspect of it.

"That's the tradition of their game, we respect that and we look forward to playing them because that's the game."

Cole returned to the international set-up in this year's Six Nations after appearing to lose favour with former head coach Eddie Jones.

The prop was part of the scrum that was overpowered in the defeat by South Africa in the 2019 World Cup final.

Four years on from that night in Yokohama, Cole is in contention to be given a start by Steve Borthwick at the Velodrome and lead the resistance of Argentina's forward assault.

"I didn't think this would happen but now I'm here and I'm very happy and grateful to be part of it," Cole said.

"It was a surprise to get the call from Steve because I hadn't played for England for three years. I'd worked with him at Leicester but he didn't give anything away.

"After 2019 and what happened in the final, I wouldn't say it would have been easy to have packed it in, but it would have been easy to just drift."

Borthwick is set to name his starting XV on at 15:00 BST on Thursday.

Alex Mitchell is pushing for a start at scrum-half, as is wing Jonny May despite the pair both missing out on the original 33-man squad.

Flanker Tom Curry is also poised to make a return to the side after missing the August warm-up schedule with an ankle injury.

You can pick your England team to face Argentina below.

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