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England won a thriller against Argentina, surviving a late comeback and seeing the hosts suffer a disallowed try at the death as Steve Borthwick’s side ended their summer Nations Championship matches with a bang.
Borthwick‘s team looked to be in command going into the final stages after Ben Earl had scored twice and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso had lit up a match littered with yellow cards only for Argentina to score leaving them needing a converted try to draw. And they thought they had a try at the death only for the TMO to disallow it denying them a shot at levelling the Test.
Daily Mail Sport rugby writer Alex Bywater rates the players on a dramatic night in Argentina.
ENGLAND
15. Marcus Smith – 6.5
Spilled ball in wide channels. Forced into emergency scrum-half duty again as he was against Fiji but came up with crucial try.
Marcus Smith dives over the tryline to extend England’s lead over Argentina in Santiago del Estero
14: Tommy Freeman – 7.5
Excellent finish from Fin Smith cross-kick. Must stay on the wing rather than be pushed back into the midfield.
13: Henry Slade – 8
Brilliant tackle on Delguy at the death won the game for England. Experience was key to helping navigate pressure.
12: Seb Atkinson – 6.5
Strong breakdown work and much more involved in attack than we’ve seen from him previously. Better intent to play to width.
11: Immanuel Feyi-Waboso – 8.5
Star man. Promising dash to start summed up very impressive outing. Fine try and showed how devastating a runner he can be.
England’s Immanuel Feyi-Waboso makes yet another break against Argentina
10: Fin Smith – 7
Knock-on over the goal-line when try was there for the taking. Nice creativity and kicking otherwise. Temporarily forced off for head injury assessment.
9: Jack Van Poortvliet – 6.5
Forwards in front of him were on top. One sniping run. Yellow card for deliberate knock-on left England down to 14 again.
1: Ellis Genge – 7
Coughed up two scrum penalties but responded with a brutal carry in between. It was a surprise he was replaced so early by debutant Immanuel Iyogun who saw yellow.
2: Jamie George (capt) – 6.5
Targeted at the kick-off and penalised for obstruction but will be pleased with his team’s success in Argentina’s back yard.
3: Joe Heyes – 7
Put himself about in defence with some massive hits and nice handling to tidy up some loose ball.
4: Alex Coles – 4
Lots of tackles but brushed off too easily by Albornoz and then in the same phase was yellow-carded and conceded penalty try. Left his team down to 13.
5: George Martin – 5
Penalised for collapsing maul as part of early England ill-discipline.
6: Ollie Chessum – 6.5
Strong early carry got Marcus Smith out of trouble but penalised for role in scrap after Freeman try. Knocked on too but one key line-out steal.
Ollie Chessum put in a mammoth performance for England against Argentina
7: Guy Pepper – 7.5
He’s worth persevering with on the flank. He has strong nuts and bolts to his game and showed that with one brilliant turnover to relieve pressure.
8: Ben Earl – 8
Scored 10th Test try after brilliant Feyi-Waboso assist and then grabbed another after monster scrum surge.
Replacements:
Benhard Janse van Rensburg 5 (for Fin Smith 45-55), Luke Cowan-Dickie 6 (for George 50), Immanuel Iyogun 4 (for Genge 50), Henry Pollock 5 (for Earl 55), George Kloska 5 (for Heyes 66), Tom Curry 5 (for Martin 66), Ben Spencer 6 (for Van Poortvliet 71), Benhard Janse van Rensburg 5 (for Atkinson 74), Ellis Genge 7 (for Marcus Smith 77), George Martin 5 (for Curry 78), Seb Atkinson 6.5 (for Janse Van Rensburg 78), Noah Caluori 5 (for Feyi-Waboso 80).
Steve Borthwick – 6
Still has big problems to solve on his team’s poor discipline which was again a big issue here. But this was a must-win game and it relieves some of the pressure on the national head coach.
