INTERNATIONAL England 37 Argentina 15:ENGLAND LAST night cut their squad to 29 before jumping on a plane to Argentina – a pared-down squad that on Saturday showed pared-down ambitions heading for a ground in the foothills of the Andes where Test rugby has been played only once before.
It is hardly the stuff to inspire a rush for late tickets on flights to Salta, but Martin Johnson is happy enough with England’s style of play despite the jeers and slow handclapping that greeted their performance.
At the end of the month he will name a new, elite squad of 32, nine of whom will be those players now away with the Lions in South Africa and some more of whom will be among the injured not currently available. But the remaining places will be fought for by those on duty in Manchester and those who will be asked to stick to the same gameplan next Saturday.
“It is a matter of character in Argentina,” said Johnson. “Mentally we have to be up, we can’t say, ‘That was enough last week, let’s go out and see what happens. We have to be even more disciplined and more resilient and more accurate and more tenacious then we were today.”
The group will not include Tom Rees, Jordan Turner-Hall or Ben Foden, who were cut yesterday, but according to Johnson “there was a great new feeling in the changing room” after the match.
That view was not wholly endorsed by Delon Armitage, scorer of two of the three tries. Without tempting his manager’s anger, the London Irish fullback had a deal of sympathy with the crowd, admitting that England’s kicking game could be as frustrating to play as well as watch.
“Frustrating? At times in the first half,” said Armitage, before explaining that “it was the plan. We didn’t want to play any stuff in our half because that is their gameplan – to kick it and make people try and run it back and they defend really well.”
However, the fact remains that in their last two games all six of England’s tries have come via the boot. On Saturday, Mark Cueto produced two volleys that betrayed a youth spent on the fringes of Crewe Alexandra.
The first, off the right foot, possibly came from a forward pass and might have been diverted to Armitage in an offside position. The second, direct from an Andy Goode chip, flew 70 yards off the outside of his left foot before stopping perfectly for Armitage in Old Trafford’s minute in-goal area.
Guardian Service
ARGENTINA: H Agulla; G Camacho, M Avramovic, G Tiesi, F Aramburu; J-M Hernandez, N Vergallo; R Roncero, A Basualdo, J Orlandi, M Carizza, P Albacete, A Galindo, J-M Leguizamon, J-M Fernandez Lobbe (capt). Replacements: S Fernandez for Avramovic (60 mins), E Lozada for Galindo (68 mins), E Guinazu for Basualdo (71 mins).
ENGLAND: D Armitage; M Cueto, D Hipkiss, T May, M Banahan; A Goode, D Care; T Payne, D Hartley, D Wilson, S Borthwick (capt), L Deacon, J Haskell, S Armitage, N Easter. Replacements: C Hodgson for Care, J White for Wilson, J Crane for Easter (64 mins), S Vesty for May (73 mins), M Tait for Banahan (76 mins), S Thompson for S Armitage, B Kay for Deacon (78 mins).
Referee: C Berdos(France). .
*England Saxons kicked off their Churchill Cup defence with a hard-fought 28-20 victory over Argentina Jaguars in Denver on Saturday night. Second-half tries from Matt Smith, Tom Varndell and man-of-the-match Joe Simpson gave the Saxons the edge after a first half blighted by errors.
Ireland A play their first match of the tournament against Canada on Wednesday.
