England get off to winning start against Argentina riding on Solomona's late try
Denny Solomona scored a dramatic try to win the game for England on debut
©PA
Argentina 34-38 England, Estadio del Bicentenario
Scorecard
Denny Solomona scored the decisive try in the 78th minute as England managed to edge out Argentina in a thrilling 34-38 victory on Saturday.
England headed into the Argentina tour, missing out on 30 players due to British and Irish Lions commitments, injuries and suspension. Head coach Eddie Jones included four uncapped players in the XV and another seven among the replacements including rugby league convert Sale Sharks' Solomona.
The visitors were touch nervous to begin with and Emiliano Boffelli capitalised on it with a seventh minute touchdown allowing Nicolas Sanchez with the conversion to make it 7-0. England bounce back with two penalties from George Ford coming in the 16th and 26th minutes to reduce the gap between the teams to just one point.
England first try came through Marland Yarde in the 30th minute as they claimed the lead for the first time in the game but his efforts were negated by a cross over from Tomas Lavanini, six minutes later. Sanchez's penalty at the stroke of half time, gave Argentina a 17-13 lead at end of the first half.
England showed more intent at the start of the second half with Jonny May going past the line in the 46th minute while Ford kicked a conversion and a penalty on either side to take England to a 17-23 lead. But, Argentina were relentless as they amassed two more tries between 50th and 52nd minute with contributions from Jeronimo de la Fuente and Joaquin Tuculet.
As Argentina had a 31-23 lead, efforts from Ford helped England level the scores with a penalty and a try that came in the 61st and 64th minutes respectively. With the scores level at 31-31, the game entered the final five minutes and this is when Juan Martin Hernandez kicked a drop goal in the 76th minute to take Argentina to a three point lead but Solomona's touchdown two minutes later followed by Ford's conversion completed a four point win for England and a 1-0 lead in the two match series.
