England had to fight until the last seconds of the match to beat Argentina 26-23 in the Rugby World Cup 2023 Bronze Final.
England dominated the first 30 minutes of the first half and led 16-03, whereafter, Argentina started to claw their way back into the match. England led 16-10 at the halftime break and had to fight the rest of the match to edge Argentina 26-23 to win the bronze medal.
Owen Farrell converted a penalty for England to open their account on the scoreboard after just 2 minutes of play.
Five minutes later Ben Earl crashed over the Argentina tryline following some great handling by England. England dominated early in the match and enjoyed territorial and possession advantage.
England continued to score unopposed with Owen Farrell converting his second penalty of the match, England led 13-00 after 13 minutes of play.
Argentina got their hands on quality ball and threatened England's defence, however, the defence of England held with relative ease. An Emiliano Boffelli converted penalty reduced England's lead to 13-03 after 23 minutes of play.
To the dismay of the crowd, Owen Farrell converted a third penalty to Extend England's lead to 16-03 after 30 minutes of play.
Argentina started to attack from within their half and following great interplay and passing by Argentina's scrumhalf Tomas Cubelli dived over for Argentina's first try of the match. With 6 minutes left to play in the first half England led 16-10, which was also the halftime score.
Argentina started the second half like a house on fire and a brilliant individual try scored by flyhalf Santiago Carreras put them in the lead for the first time in the match.
England replied immediately when Theo Dan charged down a kick by Argentina and scored a great try to regain the lead for England. England led 23-17 after 4 minutes of play in the second half.
Five minutes later Emiliano Boffelli converted his second penalty to which Andy Farrell replied with a converted penalty of his own fifteen minutes later, and extended England's lead to 26-20.
Argentina refused to accept defeat and continued to attack. Nicolas Sanchez converted his first penalty of the match to reduce England's lead to 26-23.
Scorers:
England: Tries: Ben Earl, Theo Dan. Conversion: Owen Farrell (2). Penalties: Owen Farrell (4).
Argentina: Tries: Tomas Cubelli, Santiago Carreras. Conversions: Emiliano Boffelli(2). Penalties: Emiliano Boffelli (2), Nicolas Sanchez.
Teams:
Argentina: 1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julian Montoya (c), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4 Guido Petti Pagadizabal, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 15 Juan Cruz Mallia. Replacements: 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Joel Sclavi, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Nicolas Sanchez, 23 Matías Moroni.
England: 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Theo Dan, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Ollie Chessum, 6 Tom Curry, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Ben Earl, 9 Ben Youngs, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Henry Arundell, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 13 Joe Marchant, 14 Freddie Steward, 15 Marcus Smith. Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Dan Cole, 19 David Ribbans, 20 Lewis Ludlam, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 George Ford, 23 Ollie Lawrence.