Argentina Come Up Short Against England

Argentina came up short this afternoon, losing 21-8 against England in London. The loss was Los Pumas’ fourth defeat in the calendar year against the Europeans.

England got the clean victory without playing well. Such was Argentina’s showing that there was a distinct mental difference between the sides. A lack of seeing through a strategy into creating opportunities let England off easily. A better-organized Pumas out-fit would have been expected to have won.

The win, though, was England’s. It was by two tries to one. Yet it was not the tries which ultimately saw England win but, rather, the goal-kicking. George Ford was not perfect from the kicking-tee but he was able to land strikes within range. Argentina failed in this regard.

Ford opened the scoring. His early goal would be equalized from Emiliano Boffelli. The young winger’s attempt was Argentina’s most challenging of the match yet the only now which found its target.

A second penalty from Ford would restore a three-point lead for the home side. They then went 11-3 ahead, threatening to leave Argentina behind. Scoring was Fijian no 8 Nathan Hughes. His try saw him scoring in the right corner with no Pumas forward marking him.

England was not playing well but was organized. Argentina, in contrast, repeatedly coughed-up possession. When opportunities to score presented themselves England got the ball time after time.

Two opportunities arose for Argentina to go into halftime by a lower margin. 35-year-old fly half Juan Martín Hernández was unable to capitalize though, missing two kicks at goal, one of which was virtually from in-front.

Ford made no such mistake. His 34th minute penalty made it 14-3 to England at half time. The option to not give the kicking duties to Boffelli ought to have had alarm bells ringing at UAR headquarters. Instead no change was made.

It was not to be Argentina’s day at kicking goals. This was underlined late in the match when replaced Nicolás Sánchez missed a kick from in-front. It came from Argentina playing with greater urgency and notably better distribution following the benching of Martín Landajo.

It was not until the final quarter until England scored their first points of the second half. Like fellow-English international via Fiji, Semesa Rokoduguni scored in the right corner. His try was dubious with replays showing a forward pass missed from the officials. Ford added the conversion from wide.

Now trailing by 18 points Argentina needed to end well to gain confidence ahead of next weekend. A try came in the final minute with Sánchez scoring off a 19-phase attack. The replacement fly half hit the posts with his attempted conversion.

England’s win continues the undefeated run at home since Rugby World Cup 2019. Next Saturday they play host to Australia. Argentina, meanwhile, travel to Florence to face Italy. The Italians are coming off a home win today against Fiji in Sicily. Daniel Hourcade will need to make adjustments.

 

SCORING

ENGLAND 21
Tries – N. Hughes (23’), S. Rokoduguni (66’)
Cons – G. Ford 1/2 (67’)
Pens – G. Ford 3/4 (7’, 13’, 34’)

ARGENTINA 8
Tries – N. Sánchez (77’)
Cons – N. Sánchez 0/1
Pens – E. Boffelli 1/1 (9’), J. Hernández 0/2, N. Sánchez 0/1
Yellow cards – J. Tuculet (21’)

 

TEAMS

ENGLAND
1 Mako Vunipola (17 Ellis Genge 68’), 2 Dylan Hartley (capt.) (16 Jamie George 58’), 3 Dan Cole (18 Harry Williams 68’), 4 Courtney Lawes, 5 George Kruis (19 Joe Launchbury 56’), 6 Chris Robshaw, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Nathan Hughes (20 Sam Simmonds 71’), 9 Ben Youngs (21 Danny Care 62’), 10 George Ford, 11 Elliot Daly, 12 Henry Slade, 13 Jonathan Joseph (22 Alex Lozowski 62’), 14 Anthony Watson, 15 Mike Brown (23 Semesa Rokoduguni 21’)

ARGENTINA
1 Santiago García Botta (17 Lucas Noguera Paz 58’), 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.) (16 Julián Montoya 68’), 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro (18 Enrique Pieretto 58’), 4 Matías Alemanno, 5 Tomás Lavanini (20 Leonardo Senatore 68’), 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Tomás Lezana (19 Benjamín Macome 56’), 9 Martín Landajo (21 Gonzalo Bertranou 68’), 10 Juan Martín Hernández (22 Nicolás Sánchez 64’), 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 12 Santiago González Iglesias, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Ramiro Moyano (23 Sebastián Cancelliere 54’), 15 Joaquín Tuculet

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)
Assistants: Nigel Owens (WRU) & Dan Jones (WRU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)