Famous Fixtures: England v Argentina
Ahead of England's game against Argentina on their summer tour, we look back at famous fixtures between the sides.
2023: England 27-10 Argentina
Steve Borthwick’s side faced Argentina in their opening Pool game of the 2023 Men's Rugby World Cup and a magical solo performance from George Ford saw him score all 27 points for England in a hard-fought win in Marseille.
Ford's three drop goals and six penalties proved too much for Argentina, whose points came via a Rodrigo Bruni converted try and an Emiliano Boffelli penalty.
Tom Curry was shown a yellow card inside the opening three minutes for a high tackle on Juan Cruz Mallía which was later upgraded to a red card and Boffelli slotted the resulting penalty.
Santiago Carreras also saw yellow having collided with Ford after the latter had hoisted a kick into the air. Referee Mathieu Raynal awarded a penalty where the ball landed, and Ford duly sent it over to level the match.
The fly half then slotted two 50-metre drop goals in the space of four minutes, as England took the lead for the first time in the match, and added another from inside the 22 just before half-time to make it 12-3.
Having settled the 14-man ship with his drop goals, Ford proceeded to add five penalties in the second half. Argentina eventually scored through Bruni, but with only a minute remaining the buffer was too big for them to mount any sort of comeback and England saw out the win.
2019: England 39-10 Argentina
England secured their quarter-final spot in the 2019 Rugby World Cup after an emphatic victory over Argentina in Tokyo scoring six tries against a 14-man team, after Tomas Lavanini was dismissed early for a high tackle on captain Owen Farrell.
Jonny May picked up England’s first points of the game shortly after a converted Argentine penalty. The Pumas defence committed to Ford leaving space on the left for May to scramble through to the corner.
Elliot Daly and the team capitalised on the advantage presented when he broke away down the left side sending May deep into the Argentine 22. After multiple breakdowns Ford flung the ball back to Daly who accelerated past the opposition and over the line.
Ben Youngs joined in the scoring moments later, picking up from the back of the ruck to dive over after 20 phases, closing the half at 15-3. England started the second half in strong fashion when Manu Tuilagi took on three defenders before passing to his Sale Sharks teammate Ford who spotted a gap in the defence and touched down. Farrell converted to bring the score to 22-3.
Argentina’s single try came 10 minutes from the final whistle and was scored by Matias Moroni under the posts. The consolation lasted all of three minutes as Jack Nowell ensured England finished with a flourish dive into the corner, before Luke Cowan-Dickie also got in on the action in the final minute.
2017: Argentina 34-38 England
Los Pumas opened the scoring with a clever kick through that allowed Boffelli to score in the corner, before Ford replied with two penalties to make it 7-6. Ford then found Marland Yarde in space and the wing shrugged off the tackle before a straightforward run to the corner put the team in front.
Argentina hit back through Lavanini from close range and Sanchez converted for a 17-13 lead at half-time. Ford added a penalty after the break and Henry Slade then had a moment of brilliance with a dummy and grubber that sat up perfectly for May to give England the lead.
The hosts again responded when Martin Landajo broke from the base of the scrum and offloaded to Jeronimo de la Fuente to score. They then extended their lead with a brilliant try from their own 22, as some excellent offloads created space for Joaquin Tuculet to gallop over.
England were not to be denied, though, as Ford scooped up a loose ball and played a clever interchange with Piers Francis to then go over himself. Even so, Juan Martin Hernandez struck a drop goal to set up a grand-stand finish, with Denny Soloman providing the perfect end to the game thanks to his sensational try at the death.
2009: Argentina 24-22 England
Argentina claimed a slim 24-22 victory at Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena in Salta to level the series 1-1 after Martin Johnson’s men had beaten Argentina at Old Trafford a week earlier.
Juan Manuel Leguizamon scored early courtesy of a wayward line-out shortly after kick-off. Three penalties from Juan Martin Hernandez followed, with an Andy Goode effort in response, leaving England trailing 14-3 at half time.
Argentina opened the second half in similar fashion to the first when they hit the English defence at pace through Horacio Agulla, who brushed off Goode to feed into Gonzalo Camacho on the wing racing home to score inside the opening three minutes
England responded through Goode as he slotted four penalties in 20 minutes to close the gap to 21-15, however, a drop goal by Hernandez in the 70th minute put the score out of reach for England despite Matt Banahan crossing for the team's only try of the afternoon.
1990: England 51-0 Argentina
England’s largest winning margin against Los Pumas came at Twickenham back in 1990 as Will Carling captained the side to a resounding 51-0 victory on home turf.
Tries from Jon Hall and Richard Hill, as well as a Jeremy Guscott brace and a hat-trick courtesy of Rory Underwood made for a thrilling game in front of a rapturous home crowd.
For many, the game will forever be remembered for one incident which saw 18-year-old prop Fredrico Mendez red-carded for a hit on Paul Ackford.
The young Argentine emerged from a collapsed scrum and struck the hooker, who was a serving police officer at the time. After serving a four-week ban Mendez went on to win 73 caps for the Pumas.
The fixture allowed Simon Hodgkinson to make a record-breaking performance at full back. His points total of 23 eclipsed the England record set in 1911 when Dan Lambert scored 23 points kicking seven conversions and three penalties successfully.
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