JASON LEONARD marked his debut as England skipper by saving their blushes with a late match-winning try as Jack Rowell's men snatched a 20-18 victory against brave Argentina at Twickenham on Saturday.
England were on course to suffer one of the biggest shock defeats in their history, as they trailed 18-12 with 15 minutes to go. But Mike Catt's fourth penalty brought the uninspired home side back into the game. Then, with eight minutes remaining, Harlequins prop Leonard touched down after the England pack had driven a dozen yards over the Argentinian line, for the match's only try.
Despite England's win, at the end of the game, sections of the 57,000 crowd booed the men they had come to cheer, despite that winning try from Leonard who was deputising for injured captain Phil de Glanville.
Argentina have always been difficult to play against, but England made life desperately hard for themselves.
Any hopes they have of matching the best that the southern hemisphere sides have to offer are a long way off if they cannot wipe out the likes of Argentina at home.
The returning winger Tony Underwood was one of few Englishmen with reason to be pleased. He was within a fingernail of a try early on, while lock Martin Johnson actually got over the line in the first half, but was penalised for a double movement.
It looked as though England had created something special in the 54th minute when Jeremy Guscott, recalled to the Test side, was sent streaming through to touch down in his old, flowing style. But over the other side of the pitch, touch judge Jonathan Kaplan had noticed Johnson swinging a punch and England's try was disallowed.
Instead, the badly-needed winner came only eight minutes from time and England endured an agonising time holding on for a narrow victory.
Argentina played all the classy, handling rugby in the opening hour, although they had to rely on Gonzalo Queseda, who landed six penalties from seven shots, for all their points.
Both he and Catt landed goals from all sorts of ranges with neither side edging more than three points in front until Quesada put the Pumas six points clear with 15 minutes remaining.
By that time, England coach Rowell had brought on the reliable Ben Clarke, who produced a couple of drives from the back of the scrum to get England moving. As the home side started to get desperate, players like ex-skipper Will, Carling and Lawrence Dallagliol were shouting out the orders instead of Leonard.
Super-sub Derek Stark spared Scotland's blushes with the match-winning try 11 minutes from time to finally sink the game Italians 29-22 at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Italy, striving for a victory to enhance their claims for inclusion in a Six Nations Championship, looked to have snatched a 22-22 draw with a dramatic penalty try after 64 minutes, but Stark, a second-half replacement for the injured Rowen Shepherd, raced over for his memorable, touchdown to dash the Italians hopes.
The Scots trailed for most of the match and will need a vastly-improved overall performance when they take on Wales in the opening Five Nations match on January 18th.
