England survived a fierce second-half fightback from Argentina to extend their winning run to 11 consecutive Tests with a 27–23 victory at the Allianz Stadium.
The hosts started as if the contest would be one-way traffic, going ten points up inside the opening ten minutes as George Ford opened the scoring from the tee before Max Ojomoh crossed for the first try.
Ford added the conversion to underline England’s early control, while Argentina enjoyed a long spell of possession but came away empty-handed, denied by a key clearance from Ben Spencer.
Argentina nearly found their way in through Santiago Carreras, whose penalty struck the post, but England reasserted control as Immanuel Feyi-Waboso collected Ojomoh’s pass and outpaced the defence for their second try.
Fly-half Ford converted to stretch the lead to 17 points as Ojomoh delivered an assured performance on just his second England appearace, watched by his father and former Bath flanker Steve Ojomoh.
Tomás Albornoz finally put Argentina on the board with a penalty, a reminder of their comeback against Scotland only last weekend when they erased a 21–0 deficit.
Meanwhile, England thought they had a third try before the break when Luke Cowan-Dickie drove over, but the hooker was judged to have lost control of the ball on review.
Yet the momentum shifted sharply after half-time.
Both backlines traded kicks before Argentina struck first, Justo Piccardo finishing out wide in the 45th minute and Juan Martín González nailed the conversion to put the visitors firmly back in the contest.
Albornoz landed another penalty before the ‘Pom Squad’, including 20-year-old Henry Pollock, entered the action from the bench.
Back-row Pollock’s first involvement was to concede a penalty, kicked by Carreras, reducing the gap to a single point with 20 minutes remaining.
But England finally broke Los Pumas’ one-way pressure when Henry Slade forced the ball over the line, followed by Ford converting to restore an eight-point margin.
England seemed to settle from there, with Sale Sharks No. 10 Ford adding another penalty, and a potential Joaquin Oviedo try for the visitors was overturned on review.
Argentina refused to fade, and Rodrigo Isgró’s late converted try pushed the scoreline to 27–23, but England saw out the final moments to cling on to their 11th-straight win.
Feature image: Amelie Claydon
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