Series joy for England

England sealed a 2-0 series win over Argentina in Santa Fe on Saturday as they beat the Pumas 35-25 in an impressive victory.

Tries from Charlie Ewels, Piers Francis, Danny Care and Will Collier helped them to the success, with George Ford contributing 15 points.

In reply, Joaquín Tuculet, Pablo Matera and Emiliano Boffelli crossed for Argentina, but they fell short as Ford's late drop-goal was key.

Following on from last week's thrilling match, the opening 40 minutes also brought plenty of excitement as England went in 18-13 ahead.

It took the visitors just six minutes to cross the whitewash as quick lineout ball saw Nathan Hughes bust through the heart of Argentina's defence before Joe Launchbury's subsequent run led to him offloading to second-row partner Ewels for a try.  Ford converted for a 7-0 lead.

The buffer didn't last long though as two minutes later Argentina hit back, with width on the ball seeing Tuculet go over for the crossing.

Ford was on target again off the tee soon after to make it 10-7 but again the Pumas responded, this time a scrum penalty saw them level.

Argentina had their tails up at this point and duly edged ahead for the first time on 19 minutes as an offside from England made it 13-10.  Sánchez though couldn't extend the lead five minutes later from wide out before Ford made no such mistake, with the score now 13 apiece.

On 31 minutes England would cross for their second try and it was a thing of beauty.  From a poor cross-kick from Sánchez, Mike Brown would leap highest near halfway and set off, with his fine offload 15 metres from the line finding debutant Francis for the unconverted score.

Coming out for the second-half at 18-13, both teams knew the first score would be crucial.  That made Sánchez's missed penalty following a lovely counter attack down the right that saw Brown make a high tackle all the more disappointing for the Pumas.  England dodged a bullet.

England would have no such luck on 53 minutes as Francis turned from hero to villain when his grubber near halfway was blocked by Matera, before the flank showed good footballing skills to kick ahead and collect for a try on the left.  Sánchez again though missed off the tee.

At 18-18 the game wasn't locked up for long as turnover ball saw the slick Brown put pace on an attack before finding Care on his inside.  Ford was having no such trouble with his kicking and with his extras England now led 25-18 as the game approached its final 20 minutes.

It was far from over and looked like being a repeat of last week in terms of drama, with Boffelli's crossing down the left wing handing Sánchez the opportunity to level matters once again.  This time he made no mistake and at 25 apiece the excitement was growing in Santa Fe.

England extinguished that somewhat in the 65th minute when a line-out drive saw replacement Collier burrow over, which made it 32-25.

Argentina still had plenty of time to claw themselves back within sight of a series-levelling victory but it was to be England who had the final say, with Ford's smart drop-goal on 76 minutes putting the seal on an impressive personal performance and a 2-0 series win.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Tuculet, Matera, Boffelli
Cons:  Sánchez 2
Pens:  Sánchez 2

For England:
Tries:  Ewels, Francis, Care, Collier
Cons:  Ford 3
Pens:  Ford 2
Drop Goal:  Ford

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Enrique Pieretto, 2 Agustín Creevy, 1 Lucas Noguera Paz
Replacements:  16 Julián Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Leonardo Senatore, 21 Gonzalo Bertanou, 22 Juan Martín Hernández, 23 Matías Moroni

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Harry Williams, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements:  16 Jack Singleton, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Will Collier, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Jack Maunder, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Denny Solomona

Referee:  John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant Referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Egon Seconds (South Africa)
TMO:  Aaron Paterson (New Zealand)