The Pumas of Argentina beat England 24-22 in Salta on a sunny, but windy, Saturday afternoon, a score which may just have flattered England a bit.

England had not looked much like scoring a try until with, four minutes to go, Delon Armitage flipped an underarm pass to Matt Banahan who ran down the left touch-line, thumped off Gonzalo Camacho and ran round to the posts to score a try.

The Pumas probably deserved their win by virtue of scoring two tries to one, but similar to England, their tries were their only real chances to score. It was after all not a match of flow or continuity but one of bits and pieces and lots of kicking.

But the packed stands at Salta had a picnic as they sang and shouted, waved and did a Mexican wave, enjoying their side's victory.

After the defeat in Manchester, the Pumas changed seven, and the return of experienced men, Mario Ledesma, Rimas Alvarez-Kairelis and Marcos Ayerza was valuable.

The Pumas started like a house on fire. England kicked off and threw into the first line-out. The Pumas won it as the throw was too deep and this set the Pumas attacking. England threw into the second line-out and lost it, and the Pumas scored a straightforward try as big Juan Manuel Leguizamón burst between Steffon Armitage and Tom May to score a try. He ran in on a narc away from the goal posts, which was strange and Juan Martín Hernández missed the conversion. It was not a difficult kick and was his last miss of the day. 5-0 to Argentina after two minutes.

Then the kicking started in earnest and when Santiago Fernandez was penalised for obstruction at a lofted kick Goode scored. 5-3 after 7 minutes.

Argentina were having much the better of territory - in fact England were seldom out of their territory in the half - and Hernández goal three penalties when Nick Easter was offside, Tim Payne infringed a tackle and Danny Care tackled high. 14-3 after 24 minutes.

That was the score at half time. Other highlights were few. England had a chance to score a try but the pass to Banahan was forward. When Care was penalised for being offside, Argentina tapped and ran. That produced a promising attack. Mark Cueto tackled Gonzalo Camacho high but that went ignored. There was a bit of high emotion in which captain Steve Borthwick was a protagonist. Goode was short with a penalty kick.

The first score after half-time is much prized, and the Pumas were the ones to score it. Going left fullback Horacio Agulla broke clean through on a long run ad then threw a long pass to Camacho on his left and the wing beat Cueto to the corner. Hernández converted from touch. 21-3 after 43 minutes.

This first score did not herald a Puma runaway. Instead England nudged closer with four penalties by Goode as Rodrigo Roncero, Gonzalo Tiesi, Patricio Albacete and Alfredo Lalanne were penalised for tackle infringements. That made the score 21-15 with 11 minutes to play.

Rugby is a game of consequences. England won a turnover near their 22 but kicked the ball over the Argentinian dead-ball line. This produced a scrum to Argentina and from it Hernández swung a lazy leg and goaled. 24-25 with 10 minutes to play.

The last score of the match belonged to Banahan though Delon Armitage's flick to him looked as if it may have been forward.

After Goode's conversion there were four minutes to play - four minutes controlled by the Pumas.

Man of the Match: For the control he had over the game it would be Juan Martín Hernández but the control may well have been stifling and instead we should like to name the new, lively scrumhalf with the quick, decisive service - Alfredo Lalanne.

Moment of the match: Horacio Agulla's break that led to the second Puma try.

Villain of the match: It is not helpful when the captain is the one to the fore when tempers fray, as Steve Borthwick was.

Scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries: Leguizamon, Camacho
Con: Hernández
Pens: Hernández 3
Drop: Hernández

For England:
Try: Banahan
Con: Goode
Pens: Goode 5

Teams:

Argentina: 15 Horacio Agulla, 14 Francisco Leonelli, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Santiago Fernández, 11 Gonzalo Camacho, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Alfredo Lalanne, 8 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe (captain), 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Genaro Fessia, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Rimas Álvarez Kairelis, 3 Marcos Ayerza, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 17 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Esteban Lozada, 20 Nicolás Vergallo, 21 Miguel Avramovic, 22 Lucas González Amorosino.

England: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Tom May, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Louis Deacon, 4 Steve Borthwick, 3 Julian White, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Tim Payne
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 David Wilson, 18 Ben Kay, 19 James Haskell, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Sam Vesty, 22 Mathew Tait

365

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