An under-strength England side secured a sporting double over Argentina as the recovered from a 3-12 half-time deficit to record an impressive 26-18 win in Buenos Aires.
The win for Clive Woodward's team saw them emulate the recent feats of their footballing counterparts and given the fact the side showed five new caps it was an equally impressive result over a side that had only a week ago beaten Six Nations Champions France and one will leave many reconsidering the supposed lack of depth in the England set-up.
After the game a satisfied Woodward said: "Every team has one eye on the World Cup next year, and to give yourself any chance at a World Cup, you have got to arrive with 30 outstanding players.
"A lot of the players have come through very strongly, which is good long-term," he added.
Sale fly-half Charlie Hodgson, traditional understudy to Jonny Wilkinson, settled English nerves with an early penalty but despite some early pressure it was Argentina who had the better of the first half as a penalty from Gonzalo Quesada, in the side at fly-half with the more free-flowing Felipe Contempomi filling in at centre, saw the Pumas level a quarter of an hour in.
Quesada added another four penalties before half-time, both sides struggling to keep hold of possession but England giving away too many penalties inside their own half which meant they found themselves 3-12 down at half-time.
However, after the break England, spear-headed by the likes of flanker Alex Sanderson, Lewis Moody, captain Phil Vickery and lock Ben Kay the visitors upped the tempo and kept hold of the ball better giving their backs more quality ball.
Four minutes into the half England got their reward as Kay plunged over for a score, finishing off good work from half-back Andy Gomarsall, and Hodgson held his nerve to convert as England cut the deficit to just two.
Although Quesada, metronomic as ever with the boot, added his fifth penalty soon after to lengthen the lead to five it was England who had the momentum and Hodgson added his second penalty a few minutes later to keep Argentina within touching distance.
England soon had a richly deserved second try as Bristol three-quarter Phil Christophers scorched through the Pumas defence to round the fullback and touch-down and with the extras from Hodgson, England now led 20-15.
Hodgson scored his third penalty on 66 minutes to mean that Argentina would have to score twice to win and although Quesada got his sixth penalty ten minutes from time, Leicester's Tim Stimpson sealed the game with a traditionally impressive long-distance penalty effort four minutes later.
The Teams:
Argentina: 1 Omar Hasan Jalil, 2 Federico Mendez, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Agustin Pichot (c), 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Ignacio Corletto
Reserves: Diego Giannantonio, Roberto Grau, Mario Ledesma Arocena, Lucas Ostiglia
Unused: Martin Durand, Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Jose Nunez Piossek
England: 1 Phil Vickery (c), 2 Steve Thompson, 3 David Flatman, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Alex Codling, 6 Lewis Moody, 7 Alex Sanderson, 8 Joe Worsley, 9 Andy Gomarsall, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 11 Tim Stimpson, 12 Geoff Appleford, 13 Ben Johnston, 14 Phil Christophers, 15 Michael Horak
Unused: Mark Regan, Nick Walshe, Trevor Woodman, Adam Balding, Kevin Sorrell, Hugh Vyvyan, Dave Walder
Referee: Rolland a.
Points Scorers:
Argentina
Pen K.: Quesada G. 6
England
Tries: Kay B.J. 1, Christophers P.D. 1
Conv: Hodgson C. 2
Pen K.: Stimpson T.R.G. 1, Hodgson C. 3
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