In his quest to make England “bulletproof” before Rugby World Cup 2019, Paul Gustard has had no qualms with making 21-year-old Sam Underhill one of two defensive captains for the opening autumn international against Argentina.

Underhill, making his first home start, will wear seven at Twickenham after a string of muscular, industrious displays for Bath this season. The former Osprey has made 90 tackles over six Premiership and Champions Cup appearances, but it is the quality as well as the quantity of his output that has impressed Gustard.

“What we expect from Sam is a dominant performance,” said England’s defence coach. “He’s a physical player. He has stopping power, if you like. He can hit people backwards and take momentum away from the attack.

“He’s one of these guys who has really good timing. He’s nicely balanced, his feet are in good positions when he organises himself to tackle effectively. His head is in tight, his arms are in tight. But he’s got intent. It’s all well and good having good technique, but you’ve got to want to stop somebody with force. He prides himself on that.

“I think from what we’ve seen from him over the last year and a half while he’s been playing in Wales is that this has actually been a consistent pattern of behaviour in his games. We expect that to go up another level.”