Match Report – Argentina 12 – 35 England

Tom Roebuck scored two tries and George Ford became the eighth man to win 100 England caps as they won 35-12 against Argentina in La Plata; watch every game of 2025 Lions tour, including all three Tests against Australia, live on Sky Sports

​​​​​​​England produced a highly impressive performance to beat Argentina 35-12 in La Plata as George Ford co-captained his country to victory on his 100th international appearance.

The visitors have never lost a Test series against the Pumas and ensured that will remain the case as they took a 1-0 lead in their two-match contest, with Tom Roebuck scoring two of their four second-half tries.

The first half was cagey and error-strewn, but England’s doggedness in defence was noteworthy, keeping out their hosts despite briefly being reduced to 13 players.

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Test centurion George Ford reflected on a great win for England after kicking 15 points

Alex Coles was yellow carded for a high shot on Facundo Isa, who returned after an 18-month sabbatical, with debutant Seb Atkinson quickly following him into the bin as England were punished for an accumulation of penalties.

Ford’s drop-goal provided the only points of the first half but the second was a completely different affair, with Roebuck scoring the game’s first try just one minute after the break when he powered over in the corner.

Freddie Steward quickly added another when he dived under the posts after taking a smart line onto Ford’s pass, before Roebuck put the finishing touches to another slick move as the centurion fly-half continued to pull the strings.

Argentina, who beat the British and Irish Lions in Dublin during their last outing and are fifth in the world rankings – one place higher than England – were stunned, although Pablo Matero at least put the hosts on the board after Steve Borthwick’s side failed to deal with a high kick.

Borthwick said before this series that Argentina should be considered the “heavy favourites” given their scalps of France, South Africa and New Zealand in the past year – combined with England losing 13 players to the Lions – and it looked for a short period that the Pumas would launch a comeback.

Pedro Rubiolo touched down after excellent work down the right but Ford steadied any England nerves with a timely penalty.

Cadan Murley then sealed the victory when he scampered over in the closing minutes, sealing a win that will be savoured by the much-changed England squad ahead of next week’s rematch.

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Take a look at the highlights from South Africa’s win against Italy in their opening Test

Elsewhere on Saturday, world champions South Africa started their two-Test series at home to Italy with a 42-24 victory, including two tries from scrum-half Morne van den Berg.

Wales lost their 18th successive Test with a 24-19 defeat in Japan, an experimental Ireland cruised to a 34-5 win in Georgia and New Zealand held off France by a 31-27 scoreline.

Sky Sports will exclusively show the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with all three Tests against the Wallabies and six warm-up matches to be shown exclusively live.