England 29-30 Argentina
by David Nicholson
at Twickenham

ARGENTINA took a one-point victory today as they won for the first time at Twickenham since 2006.

This was a scrappy game with both sides giving away silly penalties with Argentina scoring 20 points to England’s 19 from the boot — and that one-point difference was the margin of victory.

English ill-discipline and handling errors meant their autumn campaign got off to a losing start as the eagerly awaited return of Manu Tuilagi failed to ignite his side.

The English midfield trio of Owen Farrell, Marcus Smith and Tuilagi spluttered like a damp firework in attack and were easily snuffed out by the Pumas’ defence.

Argentina’s backline lit the stadium up in the opening minutes of the second half as they sliced the home side’s defence open twice to score two tries in five minutes.

Argentina won a scrum penalty defending their 22-metre line. The kick to touch gave an attacking platform and the swift hands through the backs won a slick try and the lead.

A loose ball from Owen Farrell as his side attacked was pounced on by fly-half Santiago Carreras who sprinted away for a lovely try to extend the Pumas’ lead.

Farrell was skippering the side for the first time in 12 months after losing the role to Courtney Lawes.

But the experienced centre failed to stop his players from giving away silly penalties.

Head coach Eddie Jones’s men should have had a comfortable first half lead, but let the visitors back into the match with silly penalties.

With 20 minutes gone, English pressure on the Argentine defence stretched the visitor’s defence.

The defensive dam broke as giant winger Joe Cokanasiga crashed through for the try.

Midway through the second half, Jones brought off his ponderous scrum-half Ben Youngs and replacement Jack Van Poortvliet scored an immediate opportunistic try to bring his side to within one point of the Pumas.

The new scrum-half then drew a penalty from the Pumas for his skipper to kick his side into the lead.

But ill-discipline from Luke Cowan-Dickie immediately gifted the visitors a penalty to restore their lead.

After the game, Farrell said that his side must not lose confidence with more games to come this autumn.

“We have to work at our discipline with Japan up next,” Farrell said.
A loss to Japan could see Jones’s position as head coach in jeopardy after this latest lacklustre display by his side.