England beats Pumas by 13-9 after slow start - Rugby World Cup Updates
England bagged an unimpressive victory over Argentina in a Rugby World Cup pool match by a narrow margin of 13-9 at Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin on September 10. Ben Youngs scored the only try of the match for England which proved a major difference between
the two sides.
Both the sides were well aware of the importance of this match as for as the quarter-final stages are concerned. England decided to go with the best available options as Argentina has got a competitive side. England made two changes to its side as Delon
Armitage and Steve Thompson were included in the place of injured Mark Cueto and Dylan Harltey.
Meanwhile, Argentina also decided to rely on experience and applied all their seasoned cards in this match. Argentina looked like a more balanced side than the English both in forward and back bunches. A greater crowd was expected for such a highly anticipated
match but a number of seats remained vacant through out the day. However, the sides still had good support from the crowd.
The game was started at a snails pace as the sides looked too careful about the possession of the ball. Pumas were right on the money into the eighth minute of the match as Felipe Contepomi earned a three pointer for his side to take an initial lead over
England.
The English side failed to make an impression as their players were struggling to handle the passes. Their manager, Martin Johnson, seemed a little restless over the situation as his side was looking off colours. Jonny Wilkinson gave them a ray of hope with
a penalty goal during the 12th minute of the match.
The sides did not amuse the crowd as nothing was happening on the edge lines and most of the time was spent in mid-field. Argentina won another penalty as Chris Ashton was penalised during the 19th minute of the match but Contepomi missed the
opportunity by a good distance. However, they increased their total to 6-3 as Martin Rodriguez kicked a penalty goal after some hard work in the match.
Dan Cole was sin binned by the referee for his tackling and England was restricted to 14 players for 10 minutes. Argentina led the match by a slight margin of 6-3 at the end of first-half. Argentina scored just three points in the second part of the match
and provided few chances to England to bounce back in the game. A timely try by Ben Youngs paved the way to a hard fought victory for England. The British managed to end the match 13-9 and secured their first victory in the global show.
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