(London, GBR) - It was a tale of two halves as England made it two wins out of two this November with a 31-12 victory over Argentina at Twickenham on Saturday.
England had the match all but won at half-time at 24-6 after Joe Launchbury, Billy Twelvetrees and Chris Ashton all scored tries converted by Owen Farrell, with the fly-half also kicking a penalty.
Yet, concerningly ahead of next week's visit of world champions New Zealand, with the All Blacks seeking to avenge last year's shock Twickenham loss, they didn't add to their tally until two minutes before full-time when replacement back-row Ben Morgan crossed for a try.
England captain Chris Robshaw admitted they needed to work hard during the week on improving on their second-half performance.
"We need to look at ourselves going into next week and make sure we're switched on and ready to play. We're looking forward to it. We'll focus and we'll get it sorted," he told Sky Sports.
"New Zealand is always a tough challenge. We've had two tough tests and come through them with positives and areas to work on."
England coach Stuart Lancaster added: "Second half, we were a bit loose and it wasn't good enough overall. But I would have taken that scoreline this morning.
"We've got to get that consistency for 80 minutes. Our intent was good and our accuracy was good and that fell away in the second half."
Argentina captain Juan Manuel Leguizamon said a stern half-time talk had led to a marked improvement in the Pumas' display.
"The first half was bad for us, we couldn't handle the ball and couldn't put on the pitch what we'd done in the week and that happens," he said.
"We talked at half time and said we should go out and show some character and personality and we did it. We thought in the second half we could win it. We put pressure on England."
Lancaster made four changes to the starting side that beat Australia 20-13 at Twickenham last weekend, including a new front row of David Wilson, Dylan Hartley and Joe Marler in a bid to combat the Pumas' renowned scrum prowess.
Meanwhile Ben Foden, usually a full-back, was recalled on the wing after injuries ruled out both Marland Yarde and Christian Wade.
Argentina, in their first match under new coach Daniel Hourcade, came into this fixture on the back of six straight defeats in the Rugby Championship.
After an early exchange of penalties between Farrell and opposing fly-half Nicolas Sanchez, England after kicking a penalty for a close-range lineout, saw lock Launchbury driven over for his first Test try in the 13th minute.
But barely 60 seconds later Wilson collapsed a scrum and, from almost halfway, Pumas centre Marcelo Bosch landed the penalty.
England, however, soon had their second try in eight minutes.
Ashton should have scored after good work by full-back Mike Brown but the wing was held up over the line by Juan Imhoff.
From the resulting five-metre scrum, England moved the ball left and Twelvetrees, who missed a tackle that led to Australia's opening try last weekend, brushed aside three poor challenges.
And six minutes before the break England had another try when Ashton went in on the blindside for only his third try in 19 Tests, with Farrell's superb conversion from the right touchline giving his side a commanding interval lead.
England strengthened their scrum by bringing on fit-again prop Alex Corbisiero in place of Joe Marler at half-time.
However, it was Argentina who scored the first points of the second half through two Sanchez penalties.
Lancaster brought on several replacements and England, with Argentina rallying, struggled to get their hands on the ball.
At that stage, the only thing England fans had had to cheer was when a picture of David Beckham, among a crowd of more than 76,000, was broadcast on the giant screens.
Argentina were still in the game with eight minutes left but their hopes of a come-from-behind win evaporated when Bosch failed with a long-range penalty.
And that miss was compounded when Morgan blasted through Santiago Cordero's attempted tackle for a try converted by fellow replacement Toby Flood.
Argentina continue their European tour against Six Nations champions Wales in Cardiff, with the Pumas looking to repeat their victory in last year's corresponding clash at the Millennium Stadium.
