Banahan try secures England win

England were being held at 9-9 by the Pumas before James Haskell sparked their one bright moment on a grim afternoon at Twickenham and Banahan finished off the try to help his side secure a 16-9 success.

A tigerish performance from Lewis Moody apart, England were dreadful.

Jonny Wilkinson's tactical kicking was disappointing again but he stroked England into the lead with a drop-goal after setting up the chance with a huge tackle on Pumas captain Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe.

Martin Rodriguez shaved the post with a drop-goal attempt but drew Argentina level with a penalty after Tim Payne was penalised for not binding at the scrum. He drilled a second effort wide after Haskell was penalised for being offside but Wilkinson responded with a successful long-range strike to nudge England back into the lead.

Ugo Monye, a stand-in full-back for England, was struggling badly as Argentina continued to pepper him with high balls. When his third attempted catch went to ground, Haskell compounded the problem by diving on the ball and conceding another penalty which Rodriguez accepted gratefully.

Mark Cueto tried to inject some tempo into the game and Monye defied his high-ball troubles to launch a powerful break but he then spilled a grubber kick to invite more pressure on England. And when they were again penalised at the scrum, Rodriguez edged Argentina ahead with a third penalty - but the Pumas conceded almost immediately.

Wilkinson drew the scores level at half-time, when England switched things around with Cueto moving to full-back and he immediately looked much more at home in the position.

However, there was little invention from England until, with 10 minutes remaining, they managed to create the kind of dynamic rugby they had promised from the outset. Haskell sparked the move with a midfield break, Steve Borthwick off-loaded and the ball was spread wide via Cueto and Moody for Banahan to score under the posts, allowing Wilkinson a simple conversion.

Argentina piled the pressure on at the death in search of the draw but England defended gallantly to hold on.