Fidler and Beim called up after run of injuries
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Your support makes all the difference.A two-match trip to Argentina is hardly comparable to a seven-match "tour of hell", as England's 1998 visit to the southern hemisphere became known, but for the Gloucester players Rob Fidler and Tom Beim, there is no escaping a feeling of déjà vu. Both men were capped in New Zealand four years ago – Beim scored a try in the Dunedin Test, for what it was worth – and now find themselves back in the red rose frame following the latest run of injuries to affect an already under-strength national squad.
Beim will travel to Buenos Aires as a replacement for Leicester's Leon Lloyd, who has yet to recover from a neck injury suffered during the Zurich Championship quarter-final defeat by Bristol last month. Fidler replaces his club colleague, the uncapped Ed Pearce, who turned an ankle during Gloucester's victory over Bristol in the final of the same competition on Saturday. Pearce, who was married last Friday, had himself been called up for Simon Shaw of Wasps, who is also struggling with a neck condition.
Another member of the original party, the Wasps full-back Josh Lewsey, has withdrawn from the Puma trip because of persistent problems with his wrist. Tom May, the inside centre from Newcastle, travels in his stead. May, Beim and Fidler are likely to feature in the second-string match against Argentina A a week today – a side featuring the Curupayti lock Pedro Sporleder, who is third in the list of most-capped Pumas, and the prop Martin Scelzo, who played Premiership rugby for Northampton before moving to France with Narbonne.
The England party were flying to Argentina today and will play the Pumas in a one-off Test – their first in the country since 1997 – on 22 June. Their hosts face France, the Six Nations champions, this weekend and the coaches, Marcelo Loffreda and Daniel Baetti, have named a full-strength squad featuring 22 European-based players. Three of them, the Gloucester wing Diego Albanese and the Bristol half-backs Agustin Pichot and Felipe Contepomi, play their club rugby in England; another 10, including the captain Lisandro Arbizu of Bègles-Bordeaux and the Narbonne quartet of Ignacio Corleto, Mario Ledesma, Gonzalo Longo and Gonzalo Quesada, earn their livings in France.
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