England post statement away victory in niggly clash with Argentina

SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO, Argentina, July 18 : Ben Earl scored two tries as England posted a statement 31-24 win away over Argentina in the Nations Championship on Saturday, winning a feisty contest littered with yellow cards, penalties and altercations between fired-up players.

It was a second successive victory for England, after last weekend’s 73-8 rout of Fiji in Liverpool ended a run of six successive losses, while Argentina lost the second of their first three games in the new competition.

Tommy Freeman, Marcus Smith and man-of-the-match Immanuel Feyi-Waboso also scored tries for England while Fin Smith kicked three conversions.

Argentina scored through Mateo Carreras and Justin Piccardo and were awarded a penalty try in the second half with Tomas Albornoz putting over a penalty and two conversions.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ed Osmond)