England 16 Argentina 9

The autumn international between England and Argentina at Twickenham on Saturday, Nov 14 2009.

A late try by Matt Banahan saved England's blushes after Argentina came agonizingly close to causing a major upset at Twickenham today.

The Pumas, who had held the edge for most of the game, finished the contest hammering at England’s line and the final whistle brought relief to the Twickenham crowd, who had earlier booed their side’s error-ridden efforts.

Despite the victory, the performance will have brought little comfort to under-pressure England manager Martin Johnson, with New Zealand next up at Twickenham next Saturday.

England once again lacked creativity and composure against opposition who hadn’t played a game together for five months, only came together on Monday and were missing key play-makers Juan Martin Hernandez and Felipe Contepomi.

Banhan’s touchdown, the third of his career, was a rare highlight in a second half that that was only marginally more entertaining that a drab opening period.

England, with their own well-documented injury problems, had been lucky to go into the break level at 9-9 after a wretched first-half with Argentina centre Martin Rodriguez only able to land three from five penalty attempts while fly-half Santiago Fernandez was also off target with two dropped goal efforts.

Throughout a drab half in which the only structured and creative rugby came from a surprisingly enterprising and effective Puma side, England’s could only muster an opportunistic drop-goal by Jonny Wilkinson, with the Toulon fly-half also slotting two penalties accrued from scraps of possession.

The men in purple trudged off at the break with boos echoing around Twickenham. While Wilkinson’s place-kicking had proved to be more accurate that Rodriguez, the Pumas were much more effective with their out-of-hand kicking strategy, with Ugo Monye brutally exposed at full-back under the high ball.

Three times the Harlequins player, more accustomed to playing on the left wing, knocked on under pressure, while both Wilkinson and Geraghty were guilty of kicking a number of kicks out on the full.

After a scrappy opening dominated aerial combat from both sides, Wilkinson nudged England with a drop-goal in the sixth minute after Lewis Moody had charged down a clearance by Fernandez.

Yet England moments later squandered a golden opportunity to extend their lead when Mark Cueto was felled by Puma full-back Horacio Agulla just five metres short of the line after Paul Hodgson’s high ball had been spilled badly by Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe.

After Fernandez saw a drop-goal attempt graze the left-hand upright, a mistake by Wilkinson, who kicked out on the full from a drop-out, then gifted the Pumas an attacking scrum.

And when England loosehead prop Tim Payne was penalized for his binding, Rodriguez levelled the scores in the 14th minute. The Argentine centre however was off-target three minutes later after James Haskell had been penalized for playing the ball off his feet after some promising play by Argentina and Wilkinson restored England’s lead with his second penalty in the 21stminute.

But Rodriguez levelled the scores with his second penalty six minutes later after Monye dropped another high ball by Fernandez while under pressure from Mauro Comuzzi and Croft had played the ball in an offside position.

The frustration in the Twickenham crowd boiled over when Geraghty kicked a ball out on the full, with England’s lack of ambition and precision met with boos.

And Martinez, after his second miss, gave Argentina the lead in the 38th minute after a third knock-on by Monye had given Argentina another attacking scrum and England were lucky to go into the break all-square with Wilkinson landing his third penalty on the stroke of half-time.

Both Wilkinson and Rodriguez missed penalty chances after the restart as England’s at last enjoyed some sustained possession.

Yet too often their attacks were too predictable. A fine counter-attack by Cueto pinned Argentina back but when the ball was spun wide from the line-out, the England wing was forced to concede a penalty as he was cut in half by a great tackle by Lucas Borges on Cueto.

Two long-range penalty misses by Wilkinson summed up England’s inability to forge openings in the Puma defence. Yet just as England looked to be running out of ideas, a line break by Haskell was carried on by Steve Borthwick and with the Argentina defence stretched, Moody put Banahan over in the corner in the 70th minute, with Wilkinson adding the conversion.

But rather than kick on, England were forced into a desperate rearguard action to protect their lead but at the final reckoning the Pumas lacked the patience and accuracy to turn pressure into points, much to Johnson’s relief.