Rugby World Cup Match Report - England 13-9 Argentina
Saturday 10 September 2011
England got a last gasp win against a tough Argentina side, thanks to a Ben Youngs try. Both sides had disappointing displays with the boot as Jonny Wilkinson missed 5 kicks and Argentina missed 6 kicks.
First Half
England started the game in sloppy fashion, losing their first line-out of the day and then being penalised for offside at the ruck. This allowed Argentina to take the lead through the boot of fly-half Felipe Contepomi who slotted a simple penalty.
England replied within four minutes thanks to a superb penalty goal from Jonny Wilkinson, the scores levelled by the tournaments record points' scorer. The Pumas had the chance to retake the lead on a three occasions, but Martin Rodriguez and Contepomi were both off target with penalty attempts. In the 20th minute Rodriguez was finally on target with a long-range effort which restored the three point advantage.
Argentina were defending ferociously, they were smashing the England forwards back at every collision and disrupting the ruck. England looked uncomfortable, they weren't able to get their runners over the gain-line and it was starting to frustrate manager Martin Johnson. They needed to trust their defensive structure and stop committing so many men to the breakdown.
England finally broke the line when full-back Ben Foden spotted a gap and burst through into the open field, his pass to Delon Armitage wasn't the best but England retained possession and won a penalty. Wilkinson went for goal, but surprisingly he missed a relatively simple effort and the score remained 6-3.
During that passage of play the Pumas suffered a massive blow when their talismanic captain Contepomi went off with a hip injury, he was replaced by Bosch. England weren't doing themselves any favours by giving away sloppy penalties which Bryce Lawrence was happy to blow for. In the 35th minute his patience ran out and Dan Cole was sent to the sin-bin.
For the last five minutes England were defending their try-line vigorously and a couple of big hits from Courtney Lawes stopped Argentina from crossing for a try. Eventually they cleared their lines and went into the break down by three points, had it not being for the poor goal-kicking it could have been a lot worse for Johnson's men.
Second Half
Argentina struck first blood in the second half, through the boot of Rodriguez who nailed his second penalty of the night to extend the lead to 9-3. The Stade Francais full-back was the real danger man for the Pumas, he was running some great angles and breaking the defensive line.
England had two chances to get back into the game, but Wilkinson's poor night with the boot continued as he missed another two shots at goal. England desperately needed an injection of pace, Ben Youngs was introduced in place of Richard Wigglesworth to try and lift the tempo of the game.
As the half wore on the Pumas grew in confidence, whereas as England started to wilt under the pressure. The game plan was all wrong, trying to crash up the middle was exactly what Argentina wanted them to do. With a lack of pace and imagination England were staring down the barrel of major blow to their World Cup hopes.
But it was the substitute Youngs who saved England's blushes with a well worked try from close range, England went through the phases and the Tigers scrum-half dummied and went through the gap to score. Wilkinson added the simple conversion and England had the lead 10-9.
The introduction of Matt Stevens and Dylan Hartley to the front-row really gave the pack a much lift, they began to dominate at the scrum as the experienced Argentine pack began to tire. On 75 minutes Jonny Wilkinson finally landed his second penalty of the night after a succession of misses making the scores 13-9.
England showed good defensive organisation in the last couple of minutes to hold back the spirited Argentina, who poured everything into the last attack of the game but they had run out of gas and England claimed their first victory of the tournament.
Thoughts
Well England were simply appaling for the first 65 minutes, they had no go forward ball and couldn't break the advantage line. The game-plan was all wrong, we were trying to smash through Argentina, which even the best sides find difficult, the forwards lacked urgency until the Hartley and Stevens entered the fold, they have to start the next game. Playing into Argentina's hands is what they want, they slowed us down at every ruck and dominated the English pack physically.
In the back-row England lacked a ball-winner, Hendrie Fourie would have thrived in that game, his skills at the breakdown would add something to the team, but with him injured Wood has to start at seven. Easter was too cumbersome at the back of the scrum and didn't give the rest of his pack a target. Haskell needs to start the rest of the tournament.
The game lifted when Youngs entered the game at scrum-half England improved significantly, his speed at the ruck really allowed England to keep the ball away from the powerful Puma's forwards. Wigglesworth was solid but didn't give enough tempo, Youngs has to start.
But we can't take anything away from Argentina, they were superbly committed and had England on the ropes for the majority of the game. They showed they are still a force to be reckoned with, but the loss of Contepomi hurt them, had he stayed on i have no doubts they would have won.
Man of the Match
Martin Rodriguez
England:
Tries - Youngs
Conversions - Wilkinson
Penalties - Wilkinson (2)
Argentina:
Tries -
Conversion -
Penalties - Contepomi, Rodriguez (2)
