England 19 Argentina 0

Date:  25 Nov 2000
Venue:  Twickenham
Attendance:  60000
Referee:  Lewis a.

After a troubled week off the field, England put in an uninspiring performance in poor conditions to beat Argentina by 19-0.

Like the week that preceded it, this match is probably best forgotten by all true fans of English rugby.  While shocking conditions at Twickenham probably contributed to the lack of spectacle, the England team -- who days earlier had threatened to withdraw their labour over a pay dispute with the Rugby Football Union -- looked listless, unfocused and generally off their game.  In fact, had their fee for his outing been strictly performance related, the men in white would have been in receipt of a sum approximating to a round of beers in one of the stadium's many bars.

But it would be churlish to criticise England too harshly as it belittles the efforts of a battling Argentina side who refused to be swept aside and battled for every inch on the muddy Twickenham turf.  While they looked a little one-dimensional at times with their brand of 'up-the-middle', driving rugby, it was only the poor kicking performance of Gonzalo Quesada which had prevented the Pumas from drawing level

It was only when they were reduced to 14 men after Felipe Contepomi was yellow-carded that the Pumas' defensive wall started to show cracks.  In the 69th minute, a solid England scrum in the Pumas 22 allowed Wilkinson to grubber the ball behind the Puma defence.  The ball bounced off the post and Ben Cohen was on hand to seize on the ball and drive over for the only try of the contest.  Wilkinson was on target with the conversion to make it 19-nil and with his efficient personal display put himself into the history books as the youngest Test player to reach the 300 points barrier.

Just five minutes later England replacement Will Greenwood put Dan Luger in space and he flew down the left hand touchline.  It seemed that nothing could stop the hero of last week's victory over Australia, but a brilliant tackle from Ignacio Corletto stopped the Saracen in his tracks.

England had actually started at a fair pace, storming into the opposition's territory to enable fly-half Jonny Wilkinson to put his side up by 3-0 after just a minute when the Pumas came up offside.  But after that flying start, a litany of penalties went against them but the normally metronomic Quesada clearly hadn't packed his kicking boots and missed three penalties in the first half.

England who could only add a further Wilkinson penalty plus a drop goal to go into the break 9-0 to the good.

England continued to exert pressure throughout the second half and were laying siege to the Argentine line for the final quarter before running out of time.  It was not a vintage performance but one they will take satisfaction from, especially given the off-field happenings and the fact they succeeded in preventing the Pumas from registering any points.  Argentina could conjure few scoring opportunities of their own, although Ignacio Corletto did have one scorching run in the 61st minute, wrong-footing Cohen and dancing down the left touchline -- only a despairing Mike Catt tap-tackle preventing England's blushes.

But there are serious question marks hanging over England's creative ability in the backline.  They clearly have a number of exciting strike-runners in the likes of Iain Balshaw, Dan Luger and Ben Cohen but seem unable to craft scoring opportunities for them.  Balshaw, in particular, was particularly under-utilised in this match, more often receiving the ball from Argentine kicks rather than a team-mate's pass.

That said, the Bath flyer did squander a certain try during the second half, opting to go for individual glory in a two-on-one situation rather than pass to an unmarked Cohen on his outside.  That is the sort of decision which will need to addressed in the run-up to the upcoming Springbok Test.

England skipper Martin Johnson offered no excuses for the lacklustre efforts by his team.  "It was an extraordinary game.  Conditions were terrible and our skill let us down.  It was very difficult but there are no excuses.  It was not good enough.  A few overlaps went begging on a day when it was difficult to control the ball.  We could have moved it a lot more but kicked it.  What happened this week happened and there are no excuses for our performance."

Man of the Match:  Backrower Richard Hill was one of the few England players to consistently breach the gain-line against the Pumas and made a number of telling breaks before he was replaced late in the second half.  Hill also did a magnificent job in stopping the big Argentine forwards charging up the middle.

Scorers:
For England:  Try:  Ben Cohen.  Jonny Wilkinson kicked one conversion, three penalties and one drop-goal.