Dull England scrape to 16-9 win over Argentina

By Mitch Phillips

LONDON (Reuters) - A late try by winger Matt Banahan helped England scrape a 16-9 victory over an inexperienced Argentina side on Saturday in another uninspired display.

England were booed off by some of their own fans at halftime with the score at 9-9 and showed little improvement after the break as even Jonny Wilkinson faltered, missing with three successive penalty attempts.

They were spared a second defeat in a row following last week's loss to Australia when Banahan scored 10 minutes from the end.

Argentina, including three full debutants, four amateurs and a callow halfback pairing, also missed three penalties and ended the game camped on the England line.

"It was a disappointing performance but when the pressure's on and the nerves are jangling it's about winning," manager Martin Johnson told Sky Sports.

"A lot of it was individual errors and going into the second half it was going to be tight. Maybe it was a bit of nerves, they put pressure on you and it becomes a dog fight.

"I said to the guys that when it gets to that it's about winning, it was tough to watch from our point of view. The players are happy they won but disappointed with what they did."

Johnson had promised that England would learn from their mistakes against Australia yet if anything the approach on Saturday was even more conservative.