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Key events
Some pushing and shoving from the forwards stops the clock. This game simply will not end despite the result more certain than current on-pitch captain Pablo Matera’s racism.
78 mins. Scrum option taken by the Pumas from five metres. They are rumbling forward before the front rows pop up which Ref Gardner believes was Argentina first, so they must play away or reset. They don’t play it away, so we have another scrum as the game ebbs away from the home side for good and all.
A win was never coming, but the home side have wasted 4 minutes freely opting for scrums. Daft.
YELLOW CARD! Emmanuel Iyogun (England)
77 mins. England are pinged for pre-engaging leading to a quick-tap attack from the Pumas. They are up to the line but Petti loses the ball as he reaches out to score.
But it was on an advantage for another offside and Iyogun is sent from the park.
76 mins. Scrum goes down, no penalty either way, reset time. England languid as you like.
75 mins. A Pumas scrum under the England posts takes ages to form up with the visitors not exaclty in a rush. Ref Gardner lectures them about pre-engaging without stopping the clock, which won’t bother England at all.
YELLOW CARD! Henry Pollock (England)
73 mins. Back the Pumas come to the England 22, and the old “always offside” issue presents itself. Pollock paying the price for the multitude of offences,
70 mins. It’s not to damn England’s tries with faint praise as they have been far more zippy in attack, but Argentina are largely useless wihtout the ball, particularly at the edges, even without the sin-bins.
TRY! Argentina 17 – 31 England (Immanuel Feyi-Waboso)
69 mins. An overthrow by Argentina at the lineout reaches Earl who burst forward to set up a good position. The ball moves briskly left to the winger who runs through with ease.
68 mins. Albornoz sends it high from the lineout, but it’s too deep and allows Feyi-Waboso to mark it in the 22. Delguy tries some pasty afterwards but the England man is not interested.
66 mins. Alex Coles is back on, so it’s now England with a two man advantage. Argentina have a penalty for side entry from Pollock, which Albornoz kicks to touch on the England 10m line.
YELLOW CARD! Santi Carreras (Argentina)
The fullback went for the van Poortvliet pass one handed but didn’t get enough on it to prevent the try. That makes no differences to the ref who bins him straight after the conversion.
TRY! Argentina 17 – 26 England (Marcus Smith)
62 mins. The return of England to the 22 healds a try, van Poortvliet spinning a long pass to Smith to dive over in the right corner.
Fin Smith slams a brilliant conversion over from the touchline under a chorus of whistles.
61 mins. Slade takes a very long time to send the penalty kick from the park as he seeks to eat up van Poortvliet’s sin-bin. Finally it leaves his boot and that heralds the return of the scrum-half.
It’s 14 v 14 out there now and England may well have ridden the worst of the Puma resurgence.
YELLOW CARD! Joaquin Oviedo (Argentina)
60 mins. The TMO has re-entreed the chat with another check-check, this time for a croc roll by Oviedo. A review demonstrates it clearly is one and he’s off.
59 mins. Argentina return to the England 22, but they are too lateral which allows the defence to track the ball across and resource the ruck enough to win a turnover. Pollock boots the ball clear for some brief respite.
57 mins. The crowd are in full voice, and even fuller boos when Pollock enters the match from the bench. What a change in this third quarter of the game.
YELLOW CARD! Alex Coles (England)
Coles is given his marching orders. It’s a two point game and England have five minutes to navigate with thirteen players.
PENALTY TRY! Argentina 17 – 19 England
The ref and TMO agree with the analysis and the try is awarded!
55 mins. Albornoz steps and goes through a gap and looks to be free to the line before his ankles are gripped by Slade on the cover tackle. As he attempts to offload to Matera two metres from the line it bobbles loose. It looks like Coles flapped at it for a deliberate knock-on and it may have prevented a try…
54 mins. Possession returns to the Pumas and they repeatedly pick and go at pace from sequential rucks, each runner getting further over the gainline every time. They set up camp in the 22 as England start to be caught offside with regularity.
52 mins. The ball goes to the corner and what a time for Montoya to lose his first lineout of the previous three weeks! Martin gets up and spoils it, winning the ball back and allowing a clearance from Slade.
YELLOW CARD! Jack van Poortvliet (England)
50 mins. As Albornoz basketballed a pass over the head of van Poortvliet in the 22 the England man slaps it forward one handed and it’s a very obvious yellow card.
49 mins. Albornoz has repeatedy run more often this half and he’s making metres each time as the English defence has to reset their expectations of the attack. His latest run feeds Garcia then Oviedo on a big support line to crash further forward into the England half, the disarray forcing Pepper into a ruck infringement as he attempts to slow the ball down.
46 mins. It’s a far brighter start to this period from the home side as they take the game back to England. There are more phases in the opposition half that test the defence more, but Albornoz then overcooks a kick that rolls dead.
TRY! Argentina 10 – 19 England (Mateo Carreras)
44 mins. The Pumas maul is held up close in forcing Garcia to play it and race to the line. He’s stopped short but Carreras following up forces over through the tacklers. Must be all that energy he saved in the sin-bin.
Conversion added.
42 mins. A couple of carries from the Pumas lead to a clearing kick from Garcia. England have a few runs off their own before a knock-on puts the home side back in possession.
Albornoz breaks free but can’t best Marcus Smith as he attempts to round the fullback. However England are offside and a 5m lineout is incoming.
Second Half!
Off we go again as Argentina receive the ball.
“This is a spicy old game, Lee.” ventures Guy Hornsby. “The first try was a lot of handbags but also a cheeky forearm onto Freeman after the touchdown and a definite hand into someone’s face. It’s exactly what you’d expect from this fixture, even before Wednesday ramped it up. It’s very promising so far, with the pack putting the hits in, and Atkinson and Slade showing signs of promise in midfield. Feyi-Waboso is a glorious handful. Let’s see how this ages in the next hour.”
It’s going OK so far Guy, if you’re English that is.
“If the English management continue to hold back the attacking talent of players like Pollock and Caluori, how long will it be before comparisons with the English football coach are made? You don’t need to rely on ‘finishers’ if you’re already winning by a good margin. Borthwick appears to be more of a hand brake than a coach who wants to attack and win.”
This was sent early in the half by Andy Symmonds and coming into the game these were common complaints. However, now we’ve reached half-time it’s fair to reflect that the attacking game from England has been decent, mainly due to shape, pace and intent. If the those things are not sorted then no amount of Pollocks or Caluoris will deliver a good attack.
Also, on Pollock, starting him means fundamentally altering the back row as he and Earl cannot start an international game together. For all his gifts, I’m not sure he’s the right physical specimen to start test matches and letting him do his stuff for 25 minutes instead is no criticism of his talent, nor is it not maximising it.
An utterly dominant performance from England against a Pumas team who have done nothing, mainly due to how the visitors played. Strong set piece alloyed with fast and confident ball in hand phases, with Fin Smith imperious at 10 feeding Freeman and Feyi-Waboso.
This is a further improvement from Borthwick’s team on the the professional showing vs Fiji. It’s a long way back for Argentina, the game is likely already lost.
Half Time!
40 mins. Feyi-Waboso loses the ball in midfield to end the half.
39 mins. On advantage from the Pumas infringing at the lineout England make metres via Feyi-Waboso and van Poortvliet. It breaks down in the 22, but play comes back for F Smith to find touch in the corner from the previous penalty.
37 mins. More pedestrian attack from Argentina easily contained by England and brought and end by Pepper then Earl splintering the ruck and stealing the ball.
35 mins. The home side are not producing a great deal while England look deadly every time they hold possession since the yellow card. They are moving the ball early, quickly and with purpose; this is their best performance for a while.
TRY! Argentina 3 – 19 England (Ben Earl)
33 mins. Second try of the game for Earl after the England pack monster their counterparts back over their own line. The easiest of touchdowns from the base for the Sarries man.
31 mins. The Pumas lose the ball in midfield due to Heyes being in Garcia’s eyeline as he attempted to pass. That looked offside to me, but the Ref is not interested. England are on the loose ball and move it quickly wide once more to Freeman’s wing who kicks forward. The chase is nearly won by the visitors but Carreras just gets there to ground it in-goal.
The full-back took it over the line and so England scrum-five coming.
PENALTY! Argentina 3 – 12 England (Tomás Albornoz)
29 mins. George is penalised for lazy running. It’s just to the right of the posts so Montoya asks his fly-half to get the side on the board, which he duly does.
The Carreras yellow will remain exactly that, he will return to play in five minutes.
26 mins. England’s scrum is setting a great platform most of the time and this latest is no different. The ball is moved left quickly again to Feyi-Waboso, after which they recycle back the other way for a Slade kick up to the line that F Smith is first but loses under an Albornoz tackle.
YELLOW CARD! Mateo Carreras (Argentina)
24 mins. The TMO has intervened as Mateo Carreras has clattered Freeman’s head as second man into a tackle. He was driving upwards with force, but Freeman was spinning and falling also. It’s enough for a sin-bin, however I doubt it will be upgraded.
TRY! Argentina 0 – 12 England (Ben Earl)
23 mins. Joe Heyes wins a loose ball and England immediately spring forwards, the ball moving left to Feyi-Waboso who again moves through the line and into the 22. Three passes later Earl has the ball and crashes over.
F Smith converts.
21 mins. Genge has a bullocking run, exploding 15 metres forward and skittling three tacklers. The position he sets up allows the ball to be moved left in the Pumas’ half, but Chessum spills it forward out on the wing.
19 mins. A catch and drive from the Pumas moves them forward ten metres on the left side of England’s half. When the ball eventually comes out Mateo Carreras finds a hole to run through and bear down on Marcus Smith. The fullback rattles him and the ball comes loose in the tackle. Good hit from Smith.
15 mins. The scrum is a keen battle at present, with England having the nudge but Argentina forcing their way back with the latest as Joe Heyes hit the deck. The ball is sent to touch in England’s half.
12 mins. Argentina attempt to move the ball wide, reaching as far as Moroni but he’s isolated and/or his clearout runners are bone idle. Either way it means Slade can clamp on the ruck as first man in and win a penalty.
10 mins. The next Pumas attack ends with a knock on from Moroni under pressure. The frustration is compounded when England win a penalty from the resulting scrum that clears their lines.
Speaking of refs, this is the team for the match:
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia) and Paul Williams (New Zealand),
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)
8 mins. The ball emerges from the lineout for Albornoz to use, but again the aggressive English defence starves the home attack of space, forcing them wider and into an aimless grubber. But play is called back as Martin had collapsed the initial maul.
That attracts a warning from the ref after a succession of England penalties in the 22.
6 mins. Due to the aforementioned actions of Chessum, the game restarts with an Argentinian penalty on halfway that they send to touch and get on the attack in the English half. They work some phases against a physical England defence that eventually drifts offside.
TRY! Argentina 0 – 5 England (Tommy Freeman)
4 mins. On the next attack Fin Smith floats a beautiful kick towards Freeman’s wing who soars above Carreras to claim it and score.
Who had four minutes on a fight breaking out? Because immediately after the touchdown there’s some afters that Freeman takes exception to which Chessum runs a full 15 metres towards to get involved with.
Conversion missed.
3 mins. Fin Smith pops a neat inside pass to Feyi-Waboso off his wing who breaks into open pasture. He feeds it right to Marcus Smith who can’t hold onto it, but it was on an advantage from earlier so the visitors will get to go again.
2 mins. Argentina were this close to reclaiming that kick-off, but it wobbled forward off the hands. An early scrum for England is super solid, allowing van Poortvliet to move the ball away and the phases to start around halfway.
Kick Off!
Albornoz chips a short kick off just over the ten metre to start us off.
Argentina are wearing a change kit that is pretty much identical to that worn by their football team in the Maradona “Hand Of God match” vs England in 1986. Which you have to say is a magnificent.
England are out on the pitch awaiting their hosts. The crowd are giving it plenty as a reception to their arrival.
At what point is this match going to produce something resembling a fight? And who will be starting it? Let me know on the email. You can also send other things in, up to you.
Teams
Argentina
Santiago Carreras; Bautista Delguy, Matías Moroni, Justo Piccardo, Mateo Carreras; Tomás Albornoz, Gonzalo García; Mayco Vivas, Julián Montoya, Tomás Rapetti; Guido Petti, Matías Alemanno, Santiago Grondona, Marcos Kremer, Joaquín Oviedo.
Replacements: Ignacio Ruiz, Boris Wenger, Pedro Delgado, Efraín Elías, Pablo Matera, Joaquín Moro, Simón Benítez Cruz, Lucio Cinti.
England
Marcus Smith; Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Seb Atkinson, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso; Fin Smith, Jack van Poortvliet; Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Joe Heyes; Alex Coles, George Martin; Ollie Chessum, Guy Pepper, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Emmanuel Iyogun, George Kloska, Tom Curry, Henry Pollock, Ben Spencer, Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Noah Caluori.
Preamble
Context is everything so they say. Has there ever been a one-off, broadly inconsequential test match with so much context?
You have heard somewhere that England have already lost to Argentina this week, complete with ill-tempered confrontations and topped off with on-field Falklalvinasland banter. The same teams in another sport face each other now with the soundwaves from that row filling the air.
Football is always like though, right? Well, before the high horse of fictional corinthian spirit is smugly climbed upon, the mood music is not exactly mellifluous in the game of rugby union either. Racist abuse from Argentinian fans marred the last meeting here, something England captain Jamie George has referenced, while Henry Pollock has Henry Pollocked his way around Buenos Aires this week.
All of this plays into an interesting fixture. England determined to show they are more the side that ruthlessly dispatched Fiji rather than the one that turned to powder vs the Springboks. Argentina meanwhile will want to shake the pre-season hit-out vibes that have shrouded their opening two rounds. There’s nothing like England plus a barge-load of context to do that.
#Argentina #England #Nations #Championship #rugby #live #Nations #Championship
