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England's Matt Banahan goes in for a try - Source: Reuters -
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A late try by winger Matt Banahan helped England scrape a 16-9 victory over an inexperienced Argentina side on Sunday in another uninspired display.
England were booed off by some of their own fans at halftime with the score at 9-9 and showed little improvement after the break as even Jonny Wilkinson faltered, missing with three successive penalty attempts.
They were spared a second defeat in a row following last week's loss to Australia when Banahan scored 10 minutes from the end.
Argentina, including three full debutants, four amateurs and a callow halfback pairing, also missed three penalties and ended the game camped on the England line.
"It was a disappointing performance but when the pressure's on and the nerves are jangling it's about winning," manager Martin Johnson told Sky Sports.
"A lot of it was individual errors and going into the second half it was going to be tight. Maybe it was a bit of nerves, they put pressure on you and it becomes a dog fight.
"I said to the guys that when it gets to that it's about winning, it was tough to watch from our point of view. The players are happy they won but disappointed with what they did."
Johnson had promised that England would learn from their mistakes against Australia yet if anything the approach on Saturday was even more conservative.
Time and again they kicked away possession, usually to start an up-and-under war with a Puma team who proved masters of the art at the World Cup two years ago.
As with last week the boot of Wilkinson looked to be England's only hope of points and he delivered an early drop goal and two penalties.
Dire fare
Debutant Argentina centre Martin Rodriguez replied with three penalties, and also missed three, as England were repeatedly penalised amid their errors.
So dire was the fare on offer in the opening quarter that fans took to making paper aeroplanes for their entertainment.
That boredom turned to disenchantment as England continued with their kicking policy, inducing a rare dose of slow handclapping from some of their own fans after half an hour, and, humiliatingly, leading to many of them booing their own team off at halftime with the score at 9-9.
As against the Wallabies England failed comprehensively to get close to creating a try while the Pumas at least tried to run the ball through their backs on occasion.
There was little improvement from England after the break and when Wilkinson sent three successive goal kicks wide the crowd sensed trouble.
They were saved 10 minutes from the end, though, when a good combination and a sharp pass from man-of-the-match Lewis Moody opened the way for Banahan to cross in the corner and score under the posts.
Wilkinson converted but England were forced to spend the last five minutes defending their own line as the Pumas looked for an equalising score.
Next week England play New Zealand, where any repeat of Saturday's show will result in a repeat of last November's thrashing.
Argentina, who will be pleased to have unearthed a few new performers in the midst of their own injury crisis, play Wales and Scotland.
