How England rated at Twickenham in narrow test defeat by Argentina
PLAYER RATINGS: Owen Farrell’s misplaced pass to give away a try cost England in shock defeat, while Marcus Smith was held back in a rigid attack as Eddie Jones’ side struggled against Argentina
- Argentina earned an historic victory over England at Twickenham on Sunday
- Some performances from the hosts left a lot to be desired for Eddie Jones’ men
- Alex Coles endured a disappointing debut in Eddie Jones’ side against the Pumas
Eddie Jones will have to learn a number of lessons about his England side after their 30-29 defeat by Argentina at Twickenham on Sunday.
Whilst the team gave a debut to Alex Coles, the Red Roses failed to adapt to a new midfield line-up, and ultimately lost the first of their autumn tests to the Pumas who enjoyed just their second ever against England in their back yard.
Here, Sportsmail’s NIK SIMON rates the England players, and notes why their performances left a little bit to be desired across the board.
Alex Coles made his debut for England on Sunday, but his performance was littered with errors
Freddie Steward 6 Spent most of the game fielding high balls which was symbolic of lack of ideas in attack.
Jack Nowell 5 Came off his wing looking for work but did not have the speed of tearaway Pumas.
Manu Tuilagi 6 Had the crowd on their feet with trademark tackle but was given little space in attack.
Owen Farrell 5 Misplaced pass gifted a breakaway try and struggled to click in new-look midfield.
Joe Cokanasiga 7 Carried with intent, scoring the opening try, but often lacked support.
Joe Cokanasiga scored the opening try, but lacked support as England pressed to score more
Marcus Smith 5 Rigid structure in attack allowed no chance for his trademark moments of magic.
Ben Youngs 5 Passing was hit and miss in the first half and his replacement offered more tempo.
Ellis Genge 7 Defused the Pumas’ scrum to milk penalties and carried with his usual menace.
Luke Cowan-Dickie 6 Conceded a poor penalty to gift points as England missed Jamie George.
Kyle Sinckler 8 Built up some early momentum at the scrum but gave away two penalties in the second half.
Kyle Sinckler built up momentum in the scrum, but also gave away two second-half penalties
Alex Coles 5 Clocked up solid numbers in attack but his debut was littered with avoidable errors.
Jonny Hill 5 Ran the lineout but made a couple of handling errors as he tried to match Pumas niggle.
Maro Itoje 6 A world-class lock but did not have his usual impact after switching to back row.
Tom Curry 7 Won a trademark turnover on the stroke of half-time and was the leading tackler.
The number of times that Billy Vunipola lost the ball in contact situations has caused issues
Billy Vunipola 5 Weathered some big shots and offloaded well but lost the ball four times in contact.
Subs: Mako Vunipola (for Genge 59min) 4; Joe Heyes (for Sinckler 74) 4; Sam Simmonds (for Vunipola 57) 5; Jack Willis (for Coles 75) 5; Jack van Poortlviet (for Youngs 55), Henry Slade (for Tuilagi 68) 4.
ARGENTINA: Mallia 7, M Carreras 6, Moroni 6, De La Fuente 6, Boffelli 8.5, S Carreras 8, Bertranou 7, Gallo 5, Montoya 7, Gomez Kodela 5, Alemanno 6, Lavanini 6, Gonzalez 7, Kremer 7, Matera 7.
Subs: Ignacio (Montoya 68) 6.5, Bello (Kodela 59) 6, Paulos (Kremer 74) 6.5, Isa (Lavanini 57) 6, Orlando (M Carreras 68) 6.
Argentina celebrated at the final whistle after securing their historic victory at Twickenham
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