One of those not attached to a European club is Mario Ledesma. The 38-year-old hooker was until recently with Clermont in the French Top 14, but retired after 10 years in that league. He will quit all rugby after this World Cup, his fourth.
If the grizzled veteran represents the best of Argentine rugby - powerful and uncompromising - he also reflects the concern some have for the immediate future of the Pumas at this tournament.
"Since the last World Cup all the other squads have played 40 tests and we have played 18. The last 14 months is the only time we have had to train together," he said.
That will change next year when the Pumas join an expanded Tri-Nations, but it has come a year too late for Ledesma and possibly for Argentina, who could have used regular top-level competition to get in shape for this tournament.
Coach Santiago Phelan's team is an ageing one and gone from the last World Cup are two of their driving forces, halfback Agustin Pichot (retired) and playmaker Juan Martin Hernandez (injured). Those are two massive holes that do not look as if they have been adequately filled.
England, on the other hand, look primed for a strong tournament.
While their lead-up form was not compelling, they are carrying themselves like a team primed for something big.
They have been remarkably relaxed, with players tweeting away merrily and enjoying their surrounds. That is in stark contrast to four years ago when they got off to an unconvincing 28-10 win over the USA before crashing to South Africa 36-0, a defeat that saw them indulge in a spot of serious soul-searching.
That they ended up losing 15-6 to South Africa in the final was confirmation of one of the sport's more remarkable backs-to-the-wall campaigns. Under the tutelage of Martin Johnson, England would rather crash through the front door into the final this time, rather than sneaking around the back.
They look to have the tools to progress out of Pool B unscathed, which would set them up for a quarter-final date, probably with the loser of the France-New Zealand Pool A clash, on September 24.
It would be wrong to call them a try-scoring machine, but in recent times the English have added expansion to set-piece muscle.
In Ben Foden, Chris Ashton, Manu Tuilagi and Delon Armitage, they have genuine pace and power out wide.
Their record against Argentina is patchy, but they have not met for two years and in 2009 they won two, at Manchester and Twickenham, and dropped a match in Argentina.
Johnson will be keen to prove that this is a vastly improved team.
Argentina v England
Dunedin, 8.30, Saturday 10 September
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (NZ)
Argentina
Martin Rodriguez
Gonzalo Camacho
Gonzalo Tiesi
S. Fernandez
Horacio Agulla
F. Contepomi (c)
Nicolas Vergallo
JMF Lobbe
JM Leguizamon
Julio Farias Cabello
Patricio Albacete
Manuel Carizza
Juan Figallo
Mario Ledesma
Rodrigo Roncero
Reserves: Agustin Creevy, Martin Scelzo, Mariano Galarza, Alejandro Campos, Alfredo Lalanne, Marcelo Bosch, Juan Jose Imhoff.
England
Ben Foden
Chris Ashton
Manu Tuilagi
Mike Tindall (c)
Delon Armitage
Jonny Wilkinson
R. Wigglesworth
Nick Easter
James Haskell
Tom Croft
Courtney Lawes
Louis Deacon
Dan Cole
Steve Thompson
Andrew Sheridan
Reserves: Dylan Hartley, Matt Stevens, Tom Palmer, Tom Wood, Ben Youngs, Toby Flood, Matt Banahan.
