England are backing their forward “tank” to propel them past Argentina this weekend and confirm their place in the last eight. While the Pumas possess a decent set-piece and a good driving maul, the English pack are more than braced for the challenge and believe their tight forwards are a steadily developing force.

As the USA discovered in Kobe much time and effort has gone into trying to restore England’s reputation as a forward powerhouse and their Lions prop Kyle Sinckler says it remains top of Eddie Jones’s list of priorities.

“One of the first things when I got into camp was the English DNA. It is something we put massive emphasis on as a forward pack,” he said. “It just gets our game going when our tank – our maul and our scrum – get going. We get into a good flow and a good rhythm. It’s something, especially in the first 20-30 minutes, we always try to get our teeth stuck into. Eddie is always on to us as a pack to assert ourselves through our scrum. I don’t know how much more we could do, we put so much into it each week.”

Argentina’s narrow defeat against France in their opening pool game, however, has forced the Pumas into a tight corner, effectively needing to win what their head coach, Mario Ledesma, describes as “our final” to reach the quarter-finals. “We are under no illusion it is going to be a really tough game,” Sinckler said. “They are playing for their lives.”

The other big hurdle will be the heat and humidity, to which Sinckler is still acclimatising. “I’ve never experienced anything like it before – the heat and how relentless it is. It feels dry and so hot but the ball feels like there’s been torrential rain. It’s taken us time to get used to it. As forwards, you might just have to adjust your running lines, where you are taking the ball, how flat you are taking it. The conditions have been testing so far.”

When the going gets tough, though, Sinckler is increasingly well equipped to deal with the challenge. It is only three years ago that he was struggling to win a regular place in Harlequins’ starting XV, since when he has toured New Zealand with the British and Irish Lions and become an England regular.

“It’s been one hell of a journey from when I couldn’t even get a start for Quins,” he said. “Sometimes I think that’s my biggest work-on: to reflect and give myself a little pat on the back for five to 10 seconds. When I was younger I was probably very selfish and quite arrogant ... looking back I was nowhere near as good as I thought I was. When I wasn’t playing I always thought it was someone else’s fault. The coach doesn’t like me, this is rubbish. I was lucky that Adam Jones came to the club. He gave me a little kick up the backside and then Eddie gave me a chance.”

Sinckler remains particularly grateful to Jones for backing players like himself and the Northampton flanker Lewis Ludlam on relatively flimsy evidence. “Before that Australia tour I think I started one game for Quins that year. I was lucky it all fell into place at the right time. If it hadn’t I don’t know where my career would have gone. It just takes that one person to believe in you and give you a chance. Look at the likes of Lewis Ludlam ... he hasn’t looked out of place and has done extremely well. Eddie can find a diamond in the rough, so to speak.”

Over in the Argentina camp, the mood is slightly downbeat following a flat second-half performance against Tonga on Saturday. The Pumas failed to register a point after half-time in their 28-12 win and their captain Pablo Matera accepts they will have to raise their game “in many aspects” to topple England.

“I haven’t watched the game again but I know this isn’t going to be enough,” said the former Leicester flanker. “If we lose again we are going home. It’s going to have to be better.”