but they never dominated nor were they ever too far in front of a spirited and talented Argentinean side.

The Jaguars scrummage and intense competition at the breakdown gave England's scrum plenty to think about and although England made several good breaks, they were never realised as handling errors and turnovers restricted their dominance and flow. The wind picked up during the game and changed direction, which may have had something to do with Cipriani having an average (at best) day with the boot, although the ball did behave differently due to the altitude.

Consequently, England were down 6-3 at half time, having missed two relatively easy kicks at goal and missing good opportunities with break aways from Varndell on the left and Geraghty down the central right channel, the latter perhaps being the best chance as his kick up-field to Matt Smith was too close to their full back and was charged down.

In the second half, the game opened up and England showed more composure and broke through more often, only for errors to again restrict their ball retention and control. England's first try came from a set piece move that required two attempts: a scrum 15m out on the right broke down and was re-set with only the Argentine wing marking Matt Smith. After the scrum, the mis-match remained and ball moved out wide right with Geraghty and was slipped inside to Smith who barged through the cover that arrived to late. Simpson added a second from the base of the scrum following some loose tackling before the Jaguars replied with a try of their own, after a well-worked move down the left flank left England exposed and the overlap allowed the try in the corner.

Our lads Tom Guest (on after 60) and Mark Lambert (68) got stuck in and Tom had a few runs and tackled hard as the Jags didn’t stop running at England. I couldn’t really see, but I imagine Mark L had a right fight, as the Argentine defence never gave up, although they did start to tire at the end. But by then the game had slowed down a bit as the sun continued to shine and the altitude (5240 feet/1 mile) here took its toll. Varndell then nipped around their exposed flank to seal the game for England, although Myler added a drop goal with the last kick of the game.

Not all breaks lead to scores, but England could have put more pressure on them if they had kept control and possession of the ball. The Jaguars had wanted to keep the ball in close to suit their strong scrum but when England did have the ball out wide, the Jags looked less composed and England should have pressed this advantage but were sucked into the tight again because of a few errors at critical moments. England's back row was not as dynamic as it could have been had Skinner and Robshaw been here to accompany Guest as they could have bossed this game as a well-honed trio and I hope Tom is given more game time in the next game. A hard, workman-like victory for the Saxons and now they have got over the first game, will hopefully polish up a few handling issues, control the breakdown and get more acclimatised to this altitude before game next Sunday against home side, US Eagles.

As pleasing as the win was that it is good to see that Argentina can produce a second string that could compete with an England Saxons side with this degree of pedigree, boasting a host of Premiership players with one or more full England caps (7? Flatman, Jones, Narraway, Cipriani, Geraghty, Varndell, Abendanon). The talk around the ground was they are to be invited (at some time in the future) to join the Super 14 as it extends to S18, which will lead to them being included into a Quad-Nations, as more home grown talent remains at home in the southern hemisphere. If this and preceding tournaments have catalysed this as well as providing the US, Canada and Georgia with much needed higher level international rugby, then well done to the RFU who "sponsor" this tournament and who, I understand, handed over the cash to the full Argentine squad for their game in Manchester.

A good day out and good to see Canada running in some well-worked tries against a chunky but up-fo-it Georgian side who were well supported by the partisan US crowd, who are competing with Canada for a spot in the World Cup. A decent tournament: I'd recommend it.

Saw one bloke with a Quins shirt on in the north stand. At least two of us then...

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