England 31-12 Argentina
Lancaster wants improvement in game management
ESPN Staff
November 9, 2013
England's Chris Ashton grabs his try © Getty Images
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England boss Stuart Lancaster said there was no "jumping up and down" after their 31-12 win over Argentina on Saturday.

England secured their second win in the autumn series thanks to tries from Joe Launchbury, Billy Twelvetrees, Chris Ashton and Ben Morgan but it was a patchy performance which lost momentum in the second half.

And Lancaster admitted the side would need to improve for next week's encounter against world number one New Zealand.

Lancaster said: "All the players are pleased overall but no-one is jumping up and down. We have a big game coming next week. Defensively we were excellent but game management is where we need to concentrate most.

"Win or lose next week depends on who manages the game best. Second half, clearly Argentina upped their game. We didn't quite manage the breakdown as well as we'd done in the first half, we were a little bit loose and Argentina kept the ball for long periods.

"We need to look at those areas and improve for next week. Overall, if you said that 31-12 was going to be the scoreline, I'd have taken it, definitely. Every international team is looking for that complete performance. You often see it from New Zealand, the top team, and that's what we're striving to get. We know we've got to improve in certain areas for next week but the positives far outweigh the negatives".

Ashton grabbed a score to end his Test try drought and Lancaster was pleased for the winger who looked like he was going to be dropped for the match, until Christian Wade was injured in training.

Lancaster added: "Christian was in at some point on Tuesday but he tightened his hamstring towards the end of training. Chris then came back into the equation.

"During Tuesday's training Chris' attitude was excellent, on Thursday his attitude was excellent and I'm pleased for him to get his try today. He enjoys scoring and it was nice for him to get that one."

Argentina head coach Daniel Hourcade said: "In the first half we kicked the ball away too quickly so we let England dominate the play and in the second half we corrected that and managed to dominate the attack a bit more. We were more aggressive. When we started we were perhaps a bit nervous."

On Ashton's try, Hourcade said: "I think he was out of play. I don't think it was a try."

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