Three days after their football counterparts crashed out of the World Cup with a 2-1 semi-final collapse against Argentina, Steve Borthwick's men came through their customary disciplinary implosion in a stormy encounter in Santiago del Estero on Saturday (Sunday AEST).
Yellow cards shown to Jack van Poortvliet, Alex Coles, Henry Pollock and Emmanuel Iyogun meant they were forced to play a total of nine minutes with 13 men, yet they hustled their way to a second successive victory.
England have now been shown 14 yellows and one red in their eight matches in 2026.
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso's dynamic solo try in the 69th minute spelt the end for Argentina.
England, though, were subjected to an agonising wait three minutes into time added on as the officials checked a possible try in the right corner by Bautista Delguy, only for Australian video referee Brett Cronan to rule out the score.
Argentina seemed more interested in engaging off the ball than playing rugby, but they came to their senses in time for the second half and even threatened the latest of upsets.
'La Cuarta Estrella' – the nationalist anthem played during the football team's run to the World Cup final – whipped up the home fans before kick-off and inside four minutes a fight had erupted as the two sides locked horns in the right corner.
Unfortunately for the Pumas, it broke out after Tommy Freeman had grabbed Fin Smith's kick to score.
Feyi-Waboso was breaking through the blue wall at will and, when the outstanding Joe Hayes won a turnover, he was away again, with Ben Earl on hand to finish his team's second try.
Mateo Carreras was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle on Freeman and Argentina's players took exception to Jamie George's celebrations after Earl had touched down again.
With little fuss Carreras crashed over early in the second half and Van Poortvliet was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on to compound their problems.
Coles joined Van Poortvliet in the sin bin for his deliberate knock-on after Slade had hauled down the racing Tomas Albornoz and, with the incident taking so close to the line, Angus Gardner also awarded a penalty try.
Joaquin Oviedo's dangerous clear-out on Guy Pepper, earning him 10 minutes in the stands, gave England some respite.
A Henry Pollock carry led to Marcus Smith crossing in the right corner before Feyi-Waboso finished in style and then went off.
Iyogun was the next to leave and Argentina had the final say through Justo Piccardo, but England sealed a scrappy win as they came through the final nervy seconds that could have seen the Pumas snatch a draw.
9°C