Argentina 34 England 38
George Ford applauded the effort put in by his England team-mates as they stole a late 38-34 victory over Argentina in San Juan.
It seemed as though tries from Ford, Marland Yarde and Jonny May might not be enough when a drop goal from Juan Martin Hernandez swung the match the Pumas' way with minutes left on the clock.
However, rugby league convert Denny Solomona marked his first England appearance by dotting down beneath the posts late on to ensure a winning start for England on their two-Test tour.
And Ford, who also contributed 18 points with the boot, admitted the team had to dig deep to get past their opponents. The Bath player told BBC2: “That game swung both ways. We were up, we were losing, Argentina were up, Argentina were losing.
“We couldn’t quite get a grip on the game in the second half. We managed to get lucky at the end with a good try off Denny but I can’t fault the effort there. The boys put a good shift in.
“I think the first game of the tour, it’s always nice to start with a win.”
Missing 30 players, largely due to British and Irish Lions calls, head coach Eddie Jones sent out a side virtually unrecognisable from the one that lost to Ireland in the last match of the Six Nations in March.
Another seven uncapped players were named on the bench, but Ford had nothing but praise for the contribution made by the new, young faces.
“They were running around there like mad men and it’s a breath of fresh air playing with those boys,” he said. “They really put the effort in today.
“We know it’ll be harder next week so we’ll go back, we’ll train hard and hopefully put in a better performance next week.”
England play the second Test against Argentina next Saturday in Santa Fe.
