Eddie Jones demanded a response from his sloppy England team after their World Cup year got off to the worst possible start.
Jones’ side crashed to a shock home defeat to Argentina in a dress rehearsal for their opening game of next autumn’s global showpiece.
His reaction was to tell his players they are now “under the pump” and challenge them to deliver a backlash.
“It's not good enough - we realise it's not good enough," said the Australian.
"We have no excuses; the referee, the pitch was the same for both teams. They got the points at the right time. We lacked cohesion.
“Sometimes this happens when you try too hard,” added Jones, whose team twice coughed up a lead to players who had never before won at Twickenham.
“We made elementary mistakes, individual mistakes, that kept inviting them back into the game.
“It’s frustrating but this is a great opportunity for us now because we are under the pump a bit. I’m looking forward to that, I think we’ll respond really well.”
Jones, who had billed this autumn as a "mini World Cup", did his best to stay calm and carry on but an 80,000 crowd left the ground stunned by a loss which has many fearing what New Zealand and South Africa could do here later this month.
The Pumas had not beaten England since 2009 and only ever won once at Twickenham - a 2006 shocker that led to then team boss Andy Robinson losing his job.
The class of 2022 had precious little possession and even less territory, yet ran out worthy winners.
Emiliano Boffelli, who plays his club rugby for Edinburgh, scored the first of two tries for a nation three places behind England in the world rankings, ending up with 25 points.
It added up to a huge scalp for Argentina and their coach Michael Cheika, who had lost all seven previous head-to-heads with his old Aussie sparring partner.
“This week is right up there as one of the best sporting experiences of my life,” said Cheika, who divided his time with coaching Lebanon to the quarter-finals of the Rugby League World Cup quarter-finals. “Going to the World Cup with the nation of my parent’s heritage, then this.
“None of my players had ever won against England. It was an experience we wanted to have before we meet again at the World Cup.”
It is the third time this year England have started a block of fixtures with defeat, following the Six Nations and summer series against Australia.
Owen Farrell converted tries by Joe Cokanasiga and Jack van Poortvliet and added five penalties in a flawless goalkicking display.
But the rest of their offering was error-strewn, 13 turnovers and 10 penalties allowing Argentina to come away with the spoils.
It all looked promising when Cokanasiga pirouetted and powered over for his 12th try in 13 caps on 25 minutes.
England were still ahead at half-time but were then ‘rope-a-doped’ as Argentina, who until then had made no effort to move the ball, suddenly opened up.
From a line-out on the right fly-half Santiago Carreras caught England cold, looping round his midfield to put Boffelli over in the left corner.
Before Farrell’s team come to terms with that they were hit again, this time the skipper throwing a loose pass which Carreras picked up and ran back 50 metres.
Jack van Poortvliet came off the bench to score with his first touch and stop the bleeding but yet again England failed to cash in - and ended up paying the price.
“We need to address the issues, have those slightly uncomfortable conversations with each other and just own it," vice-captain Ellis Genge said. “Ignore the noise from outside and focus on us."
ENGLAND - Tries: Cokanasiga, Van Poortvliet. Pens: Farrell 5. Cons: Farrell 2.
ARGENTINA - Tries: Boffelli, Carreras. Pens: Boffelli 6. Cons: Boffelli 2.
