England eke out win but Jones in despair
EDDIE JONES erupted with a foul-mouthed outburst last night as England flopped to victory against Argentina.
The coach threw his notepad in the second half and shouted: ‘Oh, **** . How ******* stupid are we?’ as his players struggled to click.
England eventually won and Jones was forced to defend himself after images were beamed across the stadium on big screens.
‘I haven’t seen it,’ said Jones. ‘How frustrated? Throwing stuff? That is pretty frustrated.
‘We want to play well, we want to play good rugby and I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be frustrated — it’s one of those things. It was a grindathon, wasn’t it?’
Missing the rested Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje — the former acting as waterboy — England toiled on a poor Twickenham pitch that had clearly suffered from staging the recent NFL matches.
The home side were forced to overcome the 21st-minute departure of Mike Brown after he landed heavily on his head and shoulder, following a challenge in mid-air by Joaquin Tuculet.
Tuculet was sent to the sin-bin for a tackle that was either a red card or no offence under the current laws, but the outstanding Nathan Hughes was at least able to maraud over for the opening try in his absence.
Brown’s exit presented the opportunity to trial Anthony Watson, viewed as the Harlequins player’s eventual successor at full-back, and he acquitted himself well.
Deputising for Farrell as goalkicker, George Ford proved his accuracy off the tee through three penalties and a conversion — with both missed chances hitting the uprights.
Ford’s first attempt bounced off the right post but the Leicester fly-half was more successful soon after to calm his nerves in a scrappy start.
England, wearing their dark grey change kit, attacked with intent off a dominant scrum through Chris Robshaw and Courtney Lawes, and in the 23rd minute they were over.
Waves of attacks were launched with quick ball and, when the Pumas were stretched, Ford fired a long missed pass to Hughes, who stormed over in the right corner.
An ugly spectacle continued to frustrate as neither side were able to build any momentum. Play was interrupted by a series of penalties, handling errors and aimless kicking.
England went for touch instead of goal in their hunt for a second try but the visiting defence was resolute.
Argentina fought back heading into the final quarter but missed penalties from Emiliano Boffelli and Nicolas Sanchez sucked the life out of their response.
Instead, a counter-attack from England swept the hosts out of reach. It started with Alex Lozowski sprinting out of his half and ended when Henry Slade found Semesa Rokoduguni through a long scoring pass.
The Pumas had the final say when Sanchez slipped over after 30 phases, ending a flat afternoon for the huge Twickenham crowd.
England face Australia next and could be without full-back Brown.
The veteran was withdrawn with concussion and Anthony Watson or Elliot Daly are now primed to start against the Wallabies.
‘Mike was hit pretty heavily,’ said Jones.
‘He will have to do a return to play. We lose a player for the whole game. They lose a player for 10 minutes. Anthony has given us a second option at full-back.
‘He did a great job. We’ve got to find one more option at full-back then we’ve got the three.’
Jones also remained tight-lipped on whether he will recall Itoje and Farrell, who were rested for the series opener off the back of their Lions tour.
‘We know how we want to play against Australia,’ said Jones. ‘We’ve got a very clear vision of how we want to play against them and it should be fun.
‘Owen did a great job as a waterboy — he could be a good waterboy next week.’
Argentina have now lost all four of their Tests against Jones’ England, who will be their group stage opponents at the 2019 World Cup.
Pumas head coach Daniel Hourcade admitted: ‘It was a really tough game where we fought a lot for the ball. It was a big battle among the forwards. ‘There were very few opportunities for both sides. England took advantage when they had opportunities and we were not able to.’
This latest defeat for Argentina also means they have now lost 18 times in 23 Test matches since reaching the 2015 World Cup semi-finals. Up next for the Pumas is a trip to Rome to face Italy, who beat Fiji 19-10 yesterday.