England captain Jamie George says his players are prepared to walk off the pitch in Argentina if they are subjected to racist abuse, a warning that has overshadowed the build-up to Saturday's Nations Championship meeting in Buenos Aires.
The stance follows an ugly episode on England's 2025 tour, when replacements Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Chandler Cunningham-South were racially abused by a small group of spectators during the warm-up before a 22-17 win in San Juan. World Rugby later concluded that an act of racial discrimination had taken place.
George, speaking before the squad flew out, left no doubt about how seriously the group is treating the threat of a repeat.
"It's something being considered," the hooker said. "If anything like that happened then it deserves the strongest of reactions. There is no place for that in the world and I feel incredibly strongly about that."
England have drawn up contingencies but are hoping they never need them.
"We've had discussions around 'what if?'," George said. "I really hope – and I'm optimistic – that the Argentinian Rugby Union has taken it very seriously. At the same time we've got a plan B if that doesn't happen."
He set out the first step should anything occur on the field.
"The first thing we'd do is make the referee aware of what we've seen so it can be properly logged and all the protocols can go into play," George said. "What we do outside of that we're still deciding."
For the captain, the issue is personal even though the abuse two years ago was not aimed at him.
"It's something I will remember for the rest of my life when I heard what had happened – and it wasn't directed at me," he said. "It was directed at my team-mates and I care about my team-mates more than anything."
George has stressed that any response will not be his decision alone. Opoku-Fordjour, back in the squad, is part of the conversation.
"Asher's obviously aware of what's coming and he's had conversations with a few of the other guys. I'm going to him because this isn't just my call to make - the abuse wasn't aimed at me," George said, adding that he would "continue to have conversations with a select group of players from different ethnic backgrounds and we will come up with a plan."
The Argentine Rugby Union has given assurances that the 2025 incident was a one-off. The tension is not confined to the racism row: England also switched their Buenos Aires hotel this week to avoid disruption from Argentina's football World Cup celebrations, while the pressure on head coach Steve Borthwick keeps building after a bruising start to the Nations Championship.
