NO ED-WAY Jones groans at lacklustre show

England .......... 21 Argentina ......... 8 by Gary Fitzgerald

EDDIE JONES was unhappy with his ring-rusty players as they failed to punch their weight despite making it 21 wins from 22 Tests.

The Aussie watched his side huff and puff before finally blowing the Argentinians away at Twickenham.

It was a messy and unconvincing start to their autumn campaign.

Dylan Hartley and his men will need to up the intensity, skill and tempo in order to see off the Australian threat on Saturday.

Nathan Hughes dived over in the first half for a try and Semesa Rokoduguni added a second while George Ford kicked 11 points as the hosts.

Boss Jones said: “It was a grindathon! They played well and we were off the pace. We haven’t played a game together since March. Fluidity and understanding wasn’t there.

“There were too many passes which went astray and we gave away too many soft penalties. But we will be a lot better next week against Australia.”

Captain Dylan Hartley said: “It was not a pretty win but the win was the main thing. We certainly need to work hard in training to get better for next week. And there’s plenty to work on.”

Young flanker Sam Underhill was outstanding, making his bid to keep hold of the No.7 jersey with some strong tackling in a destructive display.

Lions duo Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje, rested for this clash, were badly missed and will return against the Wallabies.

The Pumas hoped to avenge the 2-0 series defeat by England on their home turf in June but the hosts were too strong despite making countless handling errors and being indisciplined.

Ford struck the crossbar with his a penalty but nailed his next two. Argentine wing Emiliano Boffelli kicked a penalty as England led 6-3 in a scrappy affair.

Jones lost full-back Mike Brown to concussion when the Harlequins man was left dazed after being taken out by rival full-back Joaquin Tuculet’s dangerous tackle.

He leapt to catch a high kick and Tuculet crashed into him sending Brown tumbling and hitting his head on the turf.

Brown was unfit to carry on and helped off the pitch so Bath wing Rokoduguni came on as replacement with Anthony Watson switching to full-back.

Tuculet was shown a yellow card and England took advantage of their superior numbers to sweep over the line for the opening try.

Ford’s pass was expertly caught one-handed by Hughes and the Wasps powerhouse, filling in superbly at No.8 for injured Billy Vunipola, charged over the line.

England continued to make heavy weather of seeing off the Argentine threat and putting the game to bed in the second half.

Handling errors and slow thinking stopped them from taking advantage of any try-scoring chances and boss Jones sat scouring in his seat.

He showed his anger at his side’s indiscipline by slamming his notebook and pen down when replacement hooker Jamie George gave away a penalty.

Argentina missed the kick and Jones was a lot happier when moments later Rokoduguni raced over for the second try in the 67th minute.

At last the Twickenham fans finally had something to cheer.

Pumas’ replacement Nicolas Sanchez grabbed a late consolation try in the corner but England were already celebrating the win.