England triumph over Argentina in Summer Tour opener
England beat Argentina 12-35 in their opening Summer Tour game in La Plata.
Two Tom Roebuck tries, one a piece from Freddie Steward and Cadan Murley, and 15 points courtesy of George Ford sealed victory against Los Pumas at Estadio Jorge Luis Hirschi.
The opening exchanges were cagey, as both sides tussled for possession and territory. Los Pumas had the upper hand in attack, pinging the ball from touchline to touchline, but England’s industrious back five forced multiple turnovers at the breakdown.
Alex Coles was shown a yellow card on the 15-minute mark for a high tackle, and despite the extra man Argentina could not turn pressure into points, as the visitor’s defence held firm - holding the ball up over the line on two occasions.
Ford, winning his 100th cap, slotted a drop goal on the 20-minute mark to give Steve Borthwick’s men a 0-3 lead, but centre Seb Atkinson was shown a yellow card moments later - England’s second - and they went down to 13-men. Courageous defence continued however, and Argentina were unable to register anything on the scoreboard.
The half-time stats favoured the hosts who boasted more metres gained, carries, offloads and clean breaks - but Tom Willis was the standout performer; according to England Rugby’s Match Centre the Saracen made 22 metres and beat eight defenders in his 13 carries.
England struck moments into the resumption, as wing Roebuck was unleashed on the right flank after quick ball at the breakdown, and quicker hands, gave the Sale Sharks man enough space to to power over the line to claim his third Test try. Ford missed the extras.
Three minutes later, 10 metres out, and flat to the line Ford fired a pass into the path of the onrushing Steward who barrelled over the line setting up the easiest of conversions, and a 0-15 lead.
Roebuck bagged a second try on 48 minutes, dotting down with ease in the same corner as his first, and Ford’s seventh point with the boot, opened up a 22-point gap.
Pablo Matera was the beneficiary of a well taken cross field kick by Santiago Cordero, the wing collecting close to the touchline before lifting a well-weighted offload to his team mate to score Argentina’s first try.
Their second was sparked from halfway soon after, the ball passing through four sets of hands before finding second row Pedro Rubiolo who crossed the whitewash untouched. The successful conversion, taken by Santiago Carreras, cut the deficit to 10 points.
Undeterred, Ford powered two penalties through the posts in quick succession giving England a 12-28 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the match, and replacement Murley sealed the win with a sublime solo score - Ford's extras confirmed a famous 12-35 win.
Reaction
George Ford: "We wanted to perform well and win today. It's all about the team, and we know how hard it is to come here and get a win against Argentina, so this is a great win for us.
"We were under pressure in the first half, we gave away too many penalties, and didn't get out of our half well enough. We needed to create some try-scoring opportunities, which we did early in the second half.
"We're going to have to back this up next week - we know Argentina will come back at us, so this is another challenge but one we look forward to."
