England survive Argentina scare with 27-23 win

England 27-23 Argentina, Allianz Stadium

England survived a late scare from Argentina as they edged away with a 27-23 victory in their final game of the autumn series in Twickenham on Sunday.

The win also meant England have now completed a clean sweep over Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and now the Pumas in the series stretching their winning streak to 11 matches.

Argentina, who had a competitive Rugby Championship tournament this year that included wins over Australia and New Zealand and followed it with victories over Wales and Scotland this month once again made a strong second half fightback with tries from Justo Piccardo and Rodrigo Isgro but eventually fell short by four points.

George Ford started the proceedings with a ninth minute drop goal kick to get England off the mark before Max Ojomoh pounced on a loose ball to score the opening try a minute later to exert early pressure on the visitors. A Ford conversion meant Steve Borthwick's men started strong with a 10-0 lead.

They stretched their lead further by the 25th minute when Ojomoh sent a well judged crossfield kick for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso to touchdown and Ford squeezed on the conversion to the right side of the post making it 17-0. Just like the game against Scotland, Argentina showed glimpse of upping the ante around the half-time mark with Juan Mallia and Matias Moroni making a break but could not quite convert it into points.

Eventually the Pumas opened their account by the 35th minute with a 45m penalty kick from Tomas Albornoz making it 17-3. At the stroke of half-time, England came close to score their third try through Luke Cowan-Dickie but replays suggested he had knocked-on before grounding.

Argentina gathered early momentum in the second half with Justo Piccardo dotting down while Albornoz followed it with a conversion and a penalty goal to make it a one point game.

Nevertheless, England responded back strong with once again Ojomoh making an impact sending Henry Slade over the line and Ford slotted the conversion and a three-pointer by the 71st minute to extend the home side's lead to 27-16.

Just when England thought they had the finish under control, Alex Coles was yellow carded in the closing stage for repeated infringements and with seconds to go Rodrigo Isgro dived over after sustained pressure followed by a Carreras conversion but wasn't enough as they succumbed to a four-point defeat.

Team line up:

England XV: 15 Freddie Steward; 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Max Ojomoh, 11 Elliot Daly; 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Spencer; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Alex Coles, 6 Guy Pepper, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Ben Earl.

Reserves: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Alex Mitchell, 23 Marcus Smith.

Argentina XV: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia; 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Justo Piccardo, 11 Bautista Delguy; 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Simon Benitez Cruz; 1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julian Montoya, 3 Pedro Delgado, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Santiago Grondona.

Reserves: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Boris Wenger, 18 Tomas Rapetti, 19 Franco Molina, Pablo Matera, Joaquin Oviedo, Agustin Moyano, Santiago Carreras.