Argentina v England: Winners and losers after dramatic game marred by ‘unsavoury scenes’ as Los Pumas ’embarrass’ themselves
Argentina's Tomas Albornoz and England's Immanuel Feyi-Waboso during Saturday's clash.
Following a 31-24 win for England over Argentina at Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades, here are our winners and losers from the Nations Championship round three match.
Winners
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso
A fully fit Feyi-Waboso is a sight to behold and the England winger was bang at it on Saturday, causing Argentina countless problems every time he was in possession.
He was just incredibly elusive but also powerful and played a key role in Ben Earl’s first try and got his own in the second period in a superb individual performance.
Feyi-Waboso’s numbers were understandably impressive as he finished on 99 metres from his 11 carries, but what most stood out was a tally of 12 defenders beaten.
Prop stars
Hats off to Ellis Genge and Joe Heyes for their complete showings at the coalface in Argentina, with both props superb in the nuts and bolts and also around the field.
The pair were strong at scrum time where the English established dominance throughout but backed that up in their own unique way. Genge was typically Genge in terms of his carries and his barnstorming first-half run was out of the top drawer while Heyes contributed a whopping 20 tackles with his work around the park again impressive.
Alex Coles
Speaking of putting in the work, Coles finished on 35 tackles, which is a staggering number. His partnership with George Martin has been a real plus point this month.
Tomas Albornoz
Argentina’s bright light in an otherwise largely dismal effort. While those around him struggled, Albornoz was solid as he dug in to pull his side back into the contest.
The fly-half produced a heroic individual shift that saw him finish on 17 carries for 67 metres, with a lovely chip and regather demonstrating his silky skill-set and pace.
Ben Earl
It didn’t feel like one of his best performances in an England jersey but two tries certainly puts him in the winners’ bracket as he played his part in this narrow victory.
Earl also contributed 13 tackles and with ball in hand he made 11 carries for 38 metres before taking his leave for Henry Pollock to make his somewhat frosty entrance.
Joaquin Oviedo
Staying with number eights this Los Pumas back-rower was a rock once again for his country. 25 carries is some going as he wrapped up an outstanding individual July.
There are few better carrying forwards in the game at the moment and still just 25 years of age, one feels Oviedo is someone Argentina need to build their team around.
Losers
England discipline
This is a major headache for England head coach Steve Borthwick and his staff and one which continues to rear its head almost every time they step onto a rugby field.
Four, yes four yellow cards were issued to the side in white as Jack van Poortvliet, Coles, Pollock and Emmanuel Iyogun were all sin-binned by referee Angus Gardner.
Borthwick has consistently flagged this as an issue and yet England continue to show poor discipline and on another day these cards could well have cost them victory.
Argentina discipline
Argentina were no angels either as they lost Mateo Carreras, Oviedo and Santi Carreras for 10 minutes apiece. The former’s was for making contact with the head of Tommy Freeman on 24 minutes before Oviedo’s croc-roll on Guy Pepper on the hour mark saw him yellow carded and then a deliberate knock-on from S. Carreras sealed his fate.
But it was not just these player offences that tarnished the Pumas’ performance as collectively they sought out the niggle, with pushing and shoving a theme throughout.
Felipe Contepomi
Following on from his outburst post-November game where he accused Tom Curry of being a “bully”, the Argentina boss then took a swipe at the whole England team for a “lack of respect” by storming out of his press conference because the music was booming out of the winning team’s dressing room.
Contepomi asked for it to be turned down but, by the time that had happened, Los Pumas’ head coach had already left. While it might have been frustrating, he could have simply stepped out of the room before returning when the noise had quietened down.
Instead, he decided to go off in a huff with an attitude which summed up his side’s approach. They say players mirror their coach and that is what they did with those on the field constantly arguing with referee Gardner following the final whistle.
Albornoz was particularly vociferous and there was a suggestion that he made physical contact with Gardner afterwards. No top level team is a ‘good’ loser necessarily but they were an utter embarrassment on Saturday, just like they were in November.
Thomas Rapetti
The youngster found the going incredibly tough at scrum time as this was a baptism of fire, so to speak, against top rate opposition in Genge, who duly turned the screw.
Rapetti wasn’t alone as Mayco Vivas and the engine room collectively backpedalled at times and the 21-year-old was eventually subbed on 47 minutes along with Vivas.
Angus Gardner
Just completely lost control of the game, and to be fair may have done so in the first few minutes. After Freeman scored his try, it appeared as though there was a cheap shot from Carreras which caused an understandable reaction from the English wing.
Freeman then clocked another shot in the face by Albornoz during the scuffle, although it was difficult to see if it was punch, before Gardner bizarrely penalised Ollie Chessum, who seemed to be trying to de-escalate the situation.
The officials should have stamped down there and then, potentially giving a card or two to Los Pumas, but the lack of action just resulted in more niggle in the game.
And then at the end, we had the try farce where Gardner – perhaps fearing he wouldn’t get out of the stadium alive – seemed to want to give the try even though the ball was clearly not grounded in-goal. Eventually the right decision was reached thanks to the insistence of the video official Brett Cronan, but the length of time it took added to the tension and the frustration, and may have contributed to the unsavoury scenes at the end of the game.
READ MORE: Argentina 24-31 England: Check out the stats, facts and more from the Nations Championship clash