England spared the nation more heartbreak at the hands of Argentina after surviving a nerve-jangling period of overtime to triumph 31-24, with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s stunning finish proving decisive.
Three days after their football counterparts crashed out of the World Cup with a 2-1 semi-final collapse against Argentina, Steve Borthwick’s men came through their customary disciplinary implosion in a stormy encounter in Santiago del Estero.
Yellow cards shown to Jack van Poortvliet, Alex Coles, Henry Pollock and Emmanuel Iyogun meant they were forced to play a total of nine minutes with 13 men, yet they hustled their way to a second successive victory.
England have now been shown 14 yellow cards and one red in their eight matches in 2026.
It was Feyi-Waboso’s dynamic solo try in the 69th minute that spelt the end for Argentina and the Exeter wing was the most dangerous player on the field as his willingness to hunt for the ball was rewarded.
But England were subjected to an agonising wait three minutes into time added on as the officials checked a possible try in the right corner by Bautista Delguy, only for video referee Brett Cronan to rule out the score despite a potential high tackle by Noah Caluori in the build-up, with Henry Slade’s tackle stopping the try.
Argentina seemed more interested in engaging off the ball than playing rugby, but they came to their senses in time for the second half and even threatened the latest of upsets.
‘La Cuarta Estrella’ – the nationalist anthem played during the football team’s run to the World Cup final – whipped up the home fans before kick-off and inside four minutes a fight had erupted as the two sides locked horns in the right corner.
Unfortunately for the Pumas, it broke out after Tommy Freeman had grabbed Fin Smith’s kick to cross and, apart from some loose passing, it had been a pleasing start, with resolve shown in defence when needed.
Feyi-Waboso was breaking through the blue wall at will and, when the outstanding Joe Hayes won a turnover, he was away again, with Ben Earl on hand to finish his team’s second try.
Mateo Carreras was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle on Freeman and Argentina’s players took exception to Jamie George’s celebrations after Earl had touched down to reward a scrum that hurtled forwards.
The melee subsided and, while Pumas supporters responded briefly to the aggression shown by Argentina off the ball, they had long since been silenced by England’s dominance.
With little fuss Carreras crashed over early in the second half and England were now losing the collisions, while Van Poortvliet being shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on compounded their problems.
Coles joined Van Poortvliet in the sin-bin for his deliberate knock-on after Slade had hauled down the racing Tomas Albornoz and, with the incident taking so close to the line, Angus Gardner also awarded a penalty try.
Joaquin Oviedo’s dangerous clear-out on Guy Pepper, earning him 10 minutes in the stands, gave England some respite and, with Pollock’s arrival off the bench, they had an injection of energy.
A Pollock carry led to Marcus Smith crossing in the right corner before Feyi-Waboso finished in style and then the Northampton flanker went off.
Iyogun was the next to leave and Argentina had the final say through Justo Piccardo, but England already had a scrappy win the bank as they came through the final nervy seconds that could have seen the Pumas snatch a draw.
PA
