1. 11 wins in a row for England
Sunday's win over Argentina meant that England ended their year having won their previous 11 fixtures. This streak includes 3 wins over Argentina and wins over: New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, USA, Wales, Italy, Scotland, and France. That is some serious opposition and is a sign that England have made some significant progress since this time last year when they lost 3 out of 4 Autumn fixtures and Steve Borthwick's future was under scrutiny.
Since then, he has found his groove, improved his coaching staff, and come up with a winning formula. The aforementioned depth that England now have allows Borthwick to use his bench as a deadly weapon to win games in the final 20 minutes. This has become a signature part of England's DNA and will no doubt be deployed during the upcoming 6 Nations campaign. There is still the challenge of South Africa to come next Summer, but England have cemented themselves as a legitimate threat to the best team in the World.
2. A bitter rivalry has been born
This game feisty from the early stages with players putting aside any club friendships and taking the game to the opposition. Things spilled over late on when Tom Curry made a tackle on Mallia, which many deemed to be late, that resulted in Mallia suffering a serious knee injury. This meant that Argentina had to attempt their, ultimately unsuccessful, comeback without their full regiment of players on the pitch. They did come painfully close but messed up a line-out in England's 22 that allowed Ben Earl to gain possession, effectively ending the game. Things only got more heated after the final whistly when Argentinian players confronted Curry on the pitch in an exchange that brought in more players from both sides.
Things weren't any calmer in the Argentina coaching box where Contempomi (Argentina's head coach) was seen arguing with fans before he went to confront Curry in the tunnel. Contempomi was still furious in his post-match press conference and told reporters that Curry had shoved him and told him to "fuck off" when asked to apologise for his tackle. He then accused the Englishman of being a "bully" in remarks that have subsequently been rebuked by the likes of Henry Slade.
Whatever one thinks of the situation, there is a clear animosity between these teams that will lead to some fascinating encounters in the future. Although, Argentina will be hoping that things are a little bit different going forward. A cynic might suggest that Contempomi simply wanted to distract the media from the fact that Argentina have now lost 3 times this year ( twice at home and one away) to England teams that were missing key players on each occasion.
3. Max Ojomoh made quite the statement
There was an undoubted star of this game. Max Ojomoh was sensational from start to finish and really put himself forward as England's answer at inside centre. Seb Atkinson impressed over the summer, but is currently injured, whilst Fraser Dingwall has excelled this autumn. He was in line to start again on Sunday, but pulled out late on and gave Ojomoh a shot. The Bath man took his opportunity and scored a try as well as registering 2 assists. His first assist was an inch-perfect cross-field kick to Feyi-Waboso who ran it in from 40 metres. His second was a superb offload to Henry Slade after breaking the Argentinian line just infront of the posts. Ollie Lawrence was unavailable for this game, but impressed last week so the 2 Bath players could use their partnership to claim spots as England's centre duo. They are also helped by Lee Blackett being England's new attack coach. Blackett was their attack coach at Bath until this summer and will know just how good they both are.
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