Depleted England shock Argentina in La Plata

MATCH REPORT: England flyhalf George Ford celebrated his 100th Test appearance with an influential display in Saturday’s 35-12 win over Argentina in La Plata.

Ford, 32, kicked 15 points and assisted one of England’s four tries as Steve Borthwick’s side claimed victory before next Saturday’s second and final Test of the series.

The hosts trailed 22-0 after 50 minutes before crossing twice in a disappointing performance after beating the British and Irish Lions in their last game.

Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi made seven changes from July 20’s win over the Lions as No.8 Facundo Isa started the game in his first international appearance since October 2023.

England boss Borthwick was without 13 first-choice players away with the Lions, including captain Maro Itoje, as centre Seb Atkinson and winger Will Muir made their international debuts.

Ford ran out on his own in front of a packed crowd at a hostile Estadio Jorge Luis Hirschi before kick-off as he became the eighth male player to reach the century of England Test appearances, having made his debut in 2014.

Contepomi’s Pumas controlled an ill-disciplined opening quarter from England as flanker Alex Coles was shown a yellow card, but they failed to make the most of their dominance.

Ford opened the scoring after 21 minutes with Coles off the field by slotting the seventh drop goal of his England career, three of them coming against Los Pumas in the 2023 Rugby World Cup pool stage.

Atkinson followed Coles to the bin, but Ford’s clinical effort was the only point of the first half.

Ford’s influence on the encounter was illustrated even further as he played a crucial part in setting up fullback Freddie Steward with a vintage pass from the stand-off, sandwiched between two efforts from winger Tom Roebuck.

The hosts’ attempted comeback was kicked off by flanker Pablo Matera crossing on his 110th cap after 52 minutes, before lock Pedro Rubiolo also strolled over as they cut the deficit to 10 points.

Their hopes of victory were then dashed as Ford added two further penalties and winger Cadan Murley sneaked over in the final quarter as England won a third straight game over Argentina, a run which started with Ford’s three drop goals two years ago.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries: Matera, Rubiolo
Con: Carreras

For England:
Tries: Roebuck 2, Steward, Murley
Cons: Ford 3
Pens: Ford 2
Drop-goal: Ford

Teams: 

Argentina: 15 Benjamin Elizalde, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Fair Piccardo, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Juan Martín González, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Lucas Paulos, 3 Pedro Delgado, 2 Julián Montoya (captain), 1 Mayco Vivas.
Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Thomas Gallo, 18 Francisco Coria Marchetti, 19 Santiago Grondona, 20 Joaquín Moro, 21 Simón Benítez Cruz, 22 Nicolás Roger, 23 Matías Moroni.

England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Will Muir, 10 George Ford (co-captain), 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ben Currie, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Charlie Ewels, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie George (co-captain), 1 Fin Baxter.
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Chandler Cunningham-South, 20 Guy Pepper, 21 Alex Dombrandt, 22 Jack van Poortvliet, 23 Cadan Murley.

Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Luc Ramos (France), Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)