England humbled Argentina in La Plata on Saturday. The battle between no 5 and no 6 in the world was easily won by the lower of the two. England converted a 3-0 half-time scoreline into a 35-12 victory. George Ford was in the driver’s seat for England who tore Argentina apart early in the second-half with three tries in seven minutes.
Argentina had the better of play in the first half and came away with zero points. Santiago Carreras missed a regulation penalty and three different forwards were held-up inside the England try zone. What could have been 21 points in converted tries was none.
England did not have much ball in the first-half but came away with a drop goal from their one entrance into the Argentine 22. More concerningly for Argentina was that two Englishmen were yellow carded in the first half; yet, Argentina failed to capitalize. Indeed, there was a period in which England played with 13.
England came out firing in the second half. Seven minutes saw England running in there tries as Argentina’s defensive arrangement and reaction time fell apart. Right winger Tom Roebuck scored two tries and fullback Freddie Stewart also went over.
Argentina were losing 22-0. They needed a spark and briefly got one. Carreras put in a cross-kick for Santiago Cordero who off-loaded to Pablo Matera. The flanker had a bitter-sweet celebration in his 110th test match for his country.
A second Pumas try followed and it was the best score of the match. Simón Benítez Cruz was involved in Matera’s try and he was differential in the next, and final score. Four quick passes saw Juan Martín González running rampant down upfield. He attracted the final defender before putting Pedro Rubiolo over.
It was now 22-12 and the game was alive; however, there would be no strong finish from Argentina. Replacement Cadan Murley scored the final try of the match. He did so after Ford landed two penalties for England.
The teams meet again in the second, and final, test match of the series next Saturday. The San Juan fixture will give Argentina a shot at redemption while England will be chasing a series victory.
ARGENTINA (12)
Try – P Matera (52′); P Rubiolo (60′)
Con – S Carreras 1/2
Pen – S Carreras 0/1
ENGLAND (35)
Try – T Roebuck 2 (41′, 48′); F Stewart (44′); C Murley (75′)
Con – G Ford 3 (45′ 48′, 76′)
Pen – G Ford 2 (64′, 69′)
DG – G Ford 1/2 (20′)
YC – A Coles (15′), S Atkinson (21’)
ARGENTINA
1 Mayco Vivas, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Pedro Delgado, 4 Lucas Paulos, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Santiago Cordero, 12 Justo Piccardo, 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 15 Benjamín Elizalde
Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Thomas Gallo, 18 Francisco Coria Marchetti, 19 Santiago Grondona, 20 Joaquín Moro, 21 Simón Benítez Cruz, 22 Nicolás Roger, 23 Matías Moroni
ENGLAND
1 Fin Baxter, 2 Jamie George (capt.), 3 Joe Heyes, 4 Charlie Ewels, 5 Alex Coles, 6 Ben Curry, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Tom Willis, 9 Ben Spencer, 10 George Ford, 11 Will Muir, 12 Seb Atkinson, 13 Henry Slade, 14 Tom Roebuck, 15 Freddie Steward
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 18 Bevan Rodd, 19 Chandler Cunningham-South, 20 Guy Pepper, 21 Alex Donbrandt, 22 Jack van Poortviet, 23 Cadan Murley
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Luc Ramos (France); Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
