England beat Pumas in bruising encounter

Argentina 9 England 13

England survived a major scare to open their Rugby World Cup with an unimpressive but priceless victory over Argentina in Dunedin.

Ben Youngs came off the bench to score the only try of the match after 68 minutes and Jonny Wilkinson’s conversion nudged England into the lead for the first time.

But England’s discipline was poor. They were second best for much of a brutal Test match and they were heavily penalised by referee Bryce Lawrence.

Had the Pumas not missed a total of six penalty shots and a drop-goal they could have been out of touch by half-time instead of just 6-3 up.

Argentina’s points came from two Martin Rodriguez penalties and one from Felipe Contepomi, the influential fly-half who was forced off injured in a ferocious first half.

Wilkinson was inexplicably poor in front of goal, sending five penalty shots wide – four of them in the second half as England struggled to find a way back into the game.

But it was Youngs, sent on shortly after half-time for Richard Wigglesworth, who provided England’s ‘get out of jail free card‘.

The Leicester scrum-half, making his first appearance since undergoing knee surgery in the summer, scampered over from the base of a ruck to seal the win.

England knew just how dangerous Argentina would be. The Pumas stunned France in the opening game of the last World Cup and went on to finish third in the tournament.

Forewarned was not forearmed as Argentina won the physical battle in the first half and forced England to concede a flurry of penalties.

Argentina landed two, one from Contepomi and one from Rodriguez, with Wilkinson responding, before eventually, referee Lawrence sent Dan Cole to the sin-bin but Argentina could not capitalise on their dominance as Contepomi missed one shot and Rodriguez three in the first half.

England’s best chance of the first half came while Contepomi was receiving treatment for a rib injury, suffered in a tackle from James Haskell.

Foden scythed through a gap and drew Rodriguez at full-back but he could not get the pass away to Delon Armitage, who had stayed wide instead of drifting infield.

England kept the pressure on, winning successive penalties but Wilkinson compounded the missed opportunity by pulling his kick wide.

Rodriguez, who moved to fly-half in Contepomi’s absence, missed his third effort as England received another let off but the Pumas’ casualties continued to mount.

Gonzalo Tiesi hobbled off with a leg injury after a bone-shuddering Courtney Lawes tackle but the Pumas kept pounding forward.

Richard Wigglesworth and Armitage tackled Mario Ledesma into touch as he drove for the line.

The veteran hooker suffered a blow to the head that had players from both teams concerned but he played on.

Argentina made a fast start to the second half, with Rodriguez carving through the England defence as Mike Tindall drifted wide and left a hole in the defensive line.

Haskell saved England by securing the turnover but Marcelo Bosch then stepped his way past Chris Ashton and this time England were penalised, with Rodriguez edging the Pumas 9-3 ahead.

Wilkinson and Rodriguez exchanged missed kicks but with England struggling to break down the committed Argentina defence, Johnson sent on Youngs at scrum-half after 49 minutes.

Youngs took a quick tap penalty with his first touch of the ball and when Lawes drove forward, Argentina were penalised but then Wilkinson missed again.

England grew increasingly frustrated at their inability to control the pace of the game but they were bleeding penalties, saved only by Rodriguez’s broken radar.

The Red Rose were rattled but survived another Argentina onslaught thanks to a Haskell turnover.

England began to build their phases and earned a penalty – which brought an official warning for the Pumas – but Wilkinson pulled his kick wide again.

When the outstanding Argentina wing Gonzalo Camacho was penalised for a dangerous tackle on Foden, Wilkinson went for touch – and it paid off as England finally found a breakthrough.

England secured the lineout, drove infield and Youngs scampered over the line from the base of a ruck to score under the posts.

Wilkinson’s conversion nudged England ahead for the first time in the match and he wrapped up the victory with a second penalty.

The match ended in controversy, with Haskell appearing to indicate he had been eye-gouged.