England prop Joe Marler braced for another heated clash with Argentina at Rugby World Cup

Joe Marler says England will match Argentina’s passion when the two teams meet on Saturday in a game which the loosehead could face an opponent who once stamped on his head.

Pumas prop Enrique Pieretto Heiland was sent off in a spicy Test between the countries three years ago at Twickenham, when each team received a red and two yellow cards.

Marler was sin-binned for his part in the fracas — holding onto Heiland’s leg — and holds no grudges over the incident which saw the 24-year-old banned for seven weeks. “Argentina are very passionate,” said Marler. “I wouldn’t say they are niggly, they are just an extremely passionate nation and I guess so are we, so it gets a bit heated like that.

“He stamped on my head because I held onto his leg.

“It was my own fault. But you can’t stamp on people any more. And that was the right call. It was also the right call for me to get yellowed.”

Marler, 29, is competing with the fit-again Mako Vunipola and Ellis Genge for two loosehead spots in the 23.

He said: “There are three guys going for two shirts, so that doesn’t work.

“It’s great to have Mako back and he’s been in training for the past couple of weeks anyway. He’s back fully fit and he brings world-class experience and talent. So… I’ve enjoyed my time!

“I’m determined to give as much as I can to this group to help us win the game on Saturday.”

Following a weekend off for the squad, scrum coach Neal Hatley was able to declare that England have a clean bill of health as they head in to a week of training.

Vunipola, Jack Nowell and Henry Slade, who have all spent time on the sidelines with injury, are all fit again.

Slade expressed his relief at being available again, having aggravated the knee injury that kept him out of the four summer Tests which acted as World Cup warm-ups, in the opener against Tonga.

“I was a little bit worried, as I would be just coming back from the injury, but it was only a little knock and I’m up running and training this week, so it’s all good,” said Slade. “It has been frustrating. Missing the warm-up games as well was pretty annoying, too. I got to do the whole of pre-season before that so I don’t feel like I’ve missed too much fitness wise. The time out has helped me get little niggles out the way and I feel really good. It’s exciting to be back with the boys and if I can add something, then great.”

England will go into their final two pool games as favourites, but Hatley warned that it would be “unbelievably foolish” for higher-ranked teams to underestimate opponents at the World Cup, following the tournament’s latest upset, Japan’s sensational win over Ireland on Saturday.

“There are examples before the Japan game and all the sides here can cause anyone problems for 40-60 or 80 minutes,” said Hatley. “To underestimate anyone would be unbelievably foolish and it’s not the way we operate as a coaching or playing group. We are under no illusions about how tough the game will be and we full respect Argentina.”