Had Mark Cueto’s schoolboy ambitions been realised he would have been playing for Manchester United rather than England, and he used his football skills to telling effect to help to set up two of England’s three tries in their win over Argentina. The second was the product of a booming left-foot volley, taken on the run, that would have delighted Ryan Giggs.
“I would have loved to have played for United,” Cueto said after a win that proved as attritional as predicted on Saturday. “I am still waiting for the phone call, but I’m not going to hold my breath. It was not a bad volley.”
The left wing, who was on Crewe Alexandra’s books as a teenager, added: “I played football through my schooldays, but I was never going to do anything in the game so that’s why I turned to rugby.”
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Cueto’s sleight of foot set up both of the tries scored by the predatory Delon Armitage, while the duo’s slick passing and the latter’s chip provided Matt Banahan with his first international try. Andy Goode kicked 22 points and Juan Martín Hern?ndez contributed all of the Argentina tally in a match from which their only consolation was the £500,000 profit for the cash-starved Argentine Rugby Union.
The battle at the breakdown was ferocious and was won well by England. Despite a wobbly lineout, they had far more ideas than the one-dimensional Argentinians, who had been together for only a matter of days. The ball spent far too much time in the air, but Martin Johnson made no apologies as England racked up their third successive international win, the sort of sequence that produces momentum and self-belief.
The victory was very much in the image of the England team manager — no-nonsense and with points taken when offered. “We took our opportunities and made sure they didn’t take theirs,” Johnson said.
He cut his squad to 29 yesterday, with Jordan Turner-Hall, Tom Rees and Ben Foden missing out, before the team flew to Buenos Aires for what will be a far more demanding encounter in Salta this weekend.
As for Delon Armitage, he said that he would love to be with the Lions in South Africa. Johnson would also like to see him there, but only after this weekend’s game. “My phone is always on, but I’m happy to still be involved with England,” Armitage said.
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Scorers: Argentina: Penalty goals: Hern?ndez 4 (31, 39, 49, 51). Dropped goal: Hern?ndez (2).
England: Tries: Banahan (27), D Armitage 2 (60,79). Conversions: Goode 2. Penalty goals: Goode 4 (8, 23, 45, 55). Dropped goals: Goode 2 (19, 38).
Scoring sequence: (Argentina first): 3-0, 3-3, 3-6, 3-9, 3-16, 6-16, 6-19, 9-19 (half-time),9-22, 12-22, 15-22, 15-25, 15-32, 15-37.
Argentina: H Agulla (sin-bin, 64-75); F M Aramburú (rep: L G Amorosino, 76), G Tiesi, M Avramovic (rep: S Fern?ndez, 61), G Camacho; J M Hern?ndez, N Vergallo; R Roncero, A V Basualdo (rep: E Guiñazú, 71), J P Orlandi (rep: M Ayerza, 57), M Carizza, P Albacete, A Galindo (rep: E Lozada, 67), J M Leguizam?n, J M Fern?ndez Lobbe.
England: D Armitage; M Cueto, D Hipkiss, T May (rep: S Vesty, 72), M Banahan (rep: M Tait, 75); A Goode, D Care (rep: P Hodgson, 63); T Payne, D Hartley (rep: S Thompson, 79), D Wilson (rep: J White, 63; sin-bin 69-79), S Borthwick, L Deacon (rep: B Kay, 76), J Haskell, S Armitage, N Easter (rep: J Crane, 63).
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Referee: C Berdos (France).
Attendance: 40,521