Disjointed England edge Argentina in scrappy affair to clinch Rugby World Cup bronze medal
Argentina 23-26 England
STADE DE FRANCE â England finished the Rugby World Cup with bronze medals round their necks, as a performance of great heart and resilience mixed with desperately limited ambition squeezed them past Argentina.
England had a try in each half by Ben Earl and Theo Dan with a line-up that was in part transformational â the non-selection of Courtney Lawes, Joe Marler, Billy Vunipola and Jonny May was a nod to the future â but the game plan of incessant kicking remained.
Many in the crowd gave England the bird all evening, unsurprisingly as they had to be entertained, not bored by watching the ball sailing in the air.
We know Twickenham will be full when Ireland and Wales visit in the Six Nations in the new year, but head coach Steve Borthwick will risk the wrath of the ticket-buyers if his team keep this up.
Seven weeks had passed since England beat Argentina in Marseille to kick off the pool stage of this tournament, and to reflect on their achievements, the simple results ledger looks very good: played seven, won six.
If you go further and bracket it with the previous World Cup 2019, the record is 11 wins in 13 matches.
Or, to look at it another way, on the two occasions England have met a team from the top echelon of the world game â South Africa in the final in 2019, and again in last weekâs semi-final here â they were beaten.
It would be wrong to claim they are genuinely third in the world, given the draw kept them clear of the top five ranked teams until the semi-final.
The official attendance for this match they call the âbronze finalâ was 77,674, but they needed to add one to that total as Henry Arundell on the wing for England was a spectator for the first half.
What a shame to see a player of his ball-in-hand talent confined to running up and back all evening, chasing kicks and retreating, on repeat.
In a similar vein, Marcus Smith is the best fly-half to emerge in England in the last five years but his national team are mucking him around at full-back.
England led 13-0 after 12 minutes â two penalties by Owen Farrell, and a conversion of Earlâs try when Farrell and Smith combined with good hands, in a brief glimpse of the dual playmaker idea.
Then Smith endured a dodgy spell, out jumped by Emiliano Boffelli, followed by setting up a ruck where Joe Marchant went off his feet, and Boffelli kicked Argentinaâs first points.
And a try by scrum-half Tomas Cubelli helped Argentina to trim Englandâs lead to 16-10 at the break.
Englandâs young hooker Dan had a couple of line-out throws stolen, and he allowed Santiago Carreras through a tackle for Argentina to go ahead in the second minute of the second half.
But Dan responded brilliantly to charge down Carreras for a try converted by Farrell.
When Arundell finally had a chance to make something happen, he kicked the ball up in the air â which was some kind of irony â and a dozy offside by Will Stuart gave Boffelli another penalty goal, and England led 23-20.
Farrellâs fourth penalty for a collapsed scrum on 63 minutes was followed by Arundell being substituted, and his first World Cup has come and gone without us learning any more about him â other than perhaps Borthwick doesnât rate him highly enough, just yet.
Nicolas Sanchez potted a penalty on 67 minutes but to his dismay he missed another from wide on the left that would have tied the scores with six minutes to play.
