Plenty of reasons for England and Argentina to get up for play-off match 

The sides face off in the rebranded bronze medal showdown, though they shouldn't lack motivation. 

PODIUM FINISH? Head Coach Steve Borthwick and Owen Farrell at England's captain's run in Paris. Picture: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

What about a race row? What about trying to pick yourself off the floor after an agonising one-point semi-final defeat? Or, hey, yes, the seedings for the next World Cup? That’ll gee the boys up. Finding motivation for a bronze place play-off? It’s a brain-shrivelling conundrum to solve.

No matter how much a head coach might pore over his meticulous plans – and when it comes to poring and plans there is no-one quite like Steve Borthwick for attention to detail, a former second-row who used to sneak down to the team room to study lineout analysis videos in the early hours at very much the sort of time when the likes of a Jason Leonard or the late Willie Duggan used to be sneaking into the hotel – there is no best preparation routine that can guarantee a performance in the match that no-one wants, the bronze play-off that is the bane of every sportsman’s life. Even that change of nomenclature, trying to lend more gravitas and meaning to the event as if the players were Olympians striving to make the podium, is no more than cosmetic tinkering. Third-fourth place consolation is exactly what it is, the has-been fixture as far as the glory and real prizes are concerned.