England's Players Must Prove They Can Move on in Argentina

While the 37 players of the British and Irish Lions squad take part in the blue-ribboned tour of the international rugby calendar in Australia, the home nations of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales face the hard grind of tours at different ends of the globe.

The Six Nations champions travel to Japan, Scott Johnson's Scotland go to South Africa and Joe Schmidt's newly-led Ireland take a trip to America, while Stuart Lancaster's England face the prospect of tests against Argentina, with the disappointment of their grand slam deciding defeat to Wales continuing to linger.

If the summer tour to Uruguay and Argentina already has a devalued look to it, with Warren Gatland having pinched 10 Englishman for his Lions squad, then the omission of captain Chris Robshaw and Chris Ashton has further diluted a tour which will sit on the peripheral of the media spotlight, two years out from the World Cup.

But lock Joe Launchbury stressed to IBTimes UK that this is not the case, saying: "Not for us, it doesn't dilute anything at all.

"It's still a massive opportunity. It's still an England shirt and it's still a test - they're two massive test matches for us. Maybe in terms of media the spotlight might not be on the tour but I'm sure that will suit us down to the ground.

"For a lot of new guys coming into the team it's going to be an opportunity to concentrate purely on the rugby and on the 32 guys going out to Argentina.

"It's a close knit team and a close knit squad and we're going to do things our own way and hopefully come back with some good performances."

The raft of individual players excluded does bring a unique competitive edge to this England squad, if not disappointment at not being selected to face Australia. None of the 32 can be guaranteed of their place among Stuart Lancaster's first-choice match squad come the autumn when the countdown to 2015 begins; a factor that should dramatically improve performance.

"Opportunity is the main word," Launchbury adds. "Every time you pull on a white shirt or get the chance to pull on one it's a great opportunity to show what you can do and to play at this level is always tough but we understand the challenge of going to Argentina.

Centre Jonathan Joseph said: "It's always an opportunity, whenever you're called into the set-up it's always a chance to put a marker down and prove to the coaches your worth.

"It's great when you're alongside the best players in the country, top coaches as well it's a fantastic opportunity and everyone is obviously very grateful to get that."

With 11 new caps and just seven of the 22 players involved at the Millennium Stadium, the warm-up matches starting against a Barbarians XV on Sunday and then a South American XV, before back-to-back tests against Argentina, represent not only an opportunity to banish the memories of Cardiff and for individuals to cement their place in Lancaster's thinking, but a daunting task for an England side devoid of their successful core.

In every sense of the word, the theme of the tour and the squad is one of moving on. Moving on from Wales, moving on from Lions disappointment and moving into a new era.

Billy Twelvetrees, among those to fall into all three categories, defines that ethos.

"It was nice to be talked about in that way but on the other hand I'm just fully focused on being here now," the Gloucester centre said.

"To play against a team like Argentina who are experienced having played in the Rugby Championship last year against the top three southern hemisphere sides is a huge chance for them.

"In their own back yard is hugely exciting for us a team and to get that opportunity to put that marker down is a big feeling. It will give us confidence going forward.

"We've got a very youthful side, a number of new caps in the team. There's guys who have got caps before who are very excited and will want to put a marker down and win a test series."