England defeat Argentina to seal quarter-final place
England are through to the quarter-finals of the 2019 Rugby World Cup having defeated 14-man Argentina in Tokyo.
Eddie Jones’ side sealed a 39-10 victory over Argentina, which recorded a third straight bonus-point win in Pool C having earlier defeated Tonga and USA.
They take on France next Saturday in their final pool fixture with qualification for the knockout stages already secured.
England led 15-3 at the break through tries from Jonny May, Elliot Daly and Ben Youngs, while Argentina lost Tomas Lavanini midway through the half.
A second-half score from George Ford sealed the bonus point while Argentina crossed via Matias Moroni but late tries from Jack Nowell and Luke Cowan-Dickie settled a comfortable victory.
Seventh heaven
After a period of early Argentina pressure Urdapilleta sent over a penalty for a 3-0 advantage.
May crossed on the left flank, Ford spotting space out wide putting in the Leicester Tiger for a seventh try this year in what has been a fine 12 months for the fying winger.
Tomas Lavanini was red carded on 17 minutes for a high tackle on Owen Farrell – a second player to be sent off for a dangerous tackle on England’s captain.
Despite that though the score remained at 5-3 inside half-an-hour before a second try arrived five minutes before the break.
England’s forwards carried to Argentina’s try line before Ford spread the ball out wide and Daly arced through.
Youngs sniped through for a third try on the stroke of half time as England continued to exploit tired Argentina defence.
Jack is back
England went through the phases and Ford crashed over after a couple of big carries from the forwards created space for the fly-half to seal the bonus point.
Farrell kept the scoreboard ticking over with a 53rd-minute penalty to increase England's lead to 25-3.
England welcomed back Mako Vunipola from injury with the talismanic prop playing the final 17 minutes of the game as the game noticeably slowed in the Tokyo humidty.
Nowell also made a welcome return from injury with 12 minutes remaining but Moroni jinked through for a first Argentina try - only the second England have conceded in Japan.
However, Nowell crossed on the right wing with a fine individual score, bouncing out of one tackle before flying over in the corner.
And Cowan-Dickie had the final say crashing over off the back of a driving maul after Farrell had kicked to 5m.
Reaction
England captain Owen Farrell: "It was scrappy at times, I thought there was a decent amount of control, we let the game get a little frantic, but we took back control got some territory and it told in the end."
England fly-half George Ford: "We are really happy with the result, Argentina were playing for their lives so that presents challenges as they play with pride and passion.
"We feel there are areas we can better at, but that's the exciting thing we can be even better."
What next?
England will complete their Pool C fixtures against France in Yokohama on Saturday 12 October (KO 9.15am, live on ITV) as they look to top the pool.
Who scored?
England: Tries – May, Daly, Youngs, Ford, Nowell, Cowan-Dickie Cons – Farrell 3 Pens - Farrell
Argentina: Tries – Moroni Cons – Urdapilleta Pens - Urdapilleta
Teams
England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Joe Marler, 2 Jamie George, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 6 Tom Curry, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Billy Vunipola.
Finishers: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Lewis Ludlam, 21 Willi Heinz, 22 Henry Slade, 23 Jack Nowell.
Argentina: 15 Emiliano Boffelli; 14 Matias Moroni, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Santigo Carreras; 10 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9 Tomas Cubelli; 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Julian Montoya, 3 Juan Figallo; 4 Guido Petti,5 Tomas Lavanini; 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Javier Ortega Desio.
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Tomas Lezana, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Lucas Mensa, 23 Bautista Delguy.
