Argentina 24-31 England
England revisited the recurring nightmare of their woeful discipline as they set a national record of four yellow cards in one match, and left current players and former stars agreeing it is a running sore that Steve Borthwick’s side must put a stop to if they are ever going to win a trophy.
Yet with Argentina also losing their heads at key moments in the first-ever top-tier Test to feature seven sin-bin offences, England somehow emerged as relieved and, in some respects, delighted victors in the hostile atmosphere of Santiago del Estero.
Goodness knows what any viewers new to rugby and taking in the live Saturday-night coverage on ITV’s main channel made of a game that took more than two and a quarter hours to reach a rowdy, acrimonious conclusion.
There had been lots of predictable crossover references to the week’s World Cup semi-final win for Argentina over England and then the rugby Pumas upped the ante with a pathetic troll of kitting themselves out in the same blue jerseys and black shorts worn by their soccer counterparts in the 1986 “Hand of God” win over England in Mexico.
