England 27-23 Argentina: Max Ojomoh stars as hosts revel in winning habit

Nobody was pretending that England don’t have room for improvement.

With the players out on their feet, the Twickenham air still humming with tension, Argentina aggrieved and the England bench relieved, they couldn’t.

The skinny look to the scoreboard – a 27-23 victory – matched with frayed nerves and chewed fingernails.

England’s attack was aimless, bordering on the clueless, on occasions. Fourteen penalties conceded was plenty too many. Thirteen unanswered Pumas points at the start of the second half was a worrying loss of control. The defence flagged alarmingly late on, losing speed and structure as Argentina scored a last-minute try and came within metres of a last-play clincher.

All true. But, equally unarguable, was an 11th straight win, a first four-Test autumn sweep since 2016 and the fact that they have found a way in 2025.

A year ago, they were bounced and bullied out of matches on three successive weekends.

New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, in their contrasting fashions, picked a path though the final quarter to victory against England.

The small margins crumbled against England. Now, there is a crucial difference; they are breaking the hosts’ way. And England are picking up experience, options and momentum as they go.

Max Ojomoh was the obvious plus against the Pumas. The centre’s player-of-the-match performance showed off his polished all-round game, with his fast feet, deft boot and soft hands playing key roles in England’s three tries.

After an autumn mostly clutching tackle shields, he owed his spot in the team to Fraser Dingwall’s side strain. Had Ollie Lawrence not already been ruled out with a hamstring, it was unlikely there would have been room for him.

«On Wednesday, we are allowed to go back home if you aren’t picked. I was so jarred that I went back to my house,» Ojomoh told BBC Radio 5 Live.

«Then I had to come back as I could have been playing. I only found out on Friday I would be in the team. It’s been a whirlwind of a week, it couldn’t have gone better.

«I was chatting to [attack coach] Lee [Blackett] in the week about when my opportunity was going to come, if ever.

«He said I probably was going to have to grind it out until an opportunity arises and you have to take it.

«Hopefully that counts as taking it.»

For so long, England have been trying to mesh moving parts into a midfield partnership that strikes the right blend.

With the experiment of shifting wing Tommy Freeman inside to 13 still live, Seb Atkinson performing excellently in Argentina in the summer, and Elliot Daly and Henry Slade having experience that the others lack, it feels like a combination that clicks is close, with competition to push them on.

«There is no position-hating among us centres, Fraser sent me a message and Luke Northmore and Oscar Beard were dropping me messages from across the Prem,» added Ojomoh.

«It empowered me to take my opportunity.»

Alex Coles is another beneficiary of others’ misfortune. George Martin and Ollie Chessum, fully fit, are probably still ahead of the Northampton man. But his athletic, endurance game came good, with a galloping break near the end earning the territory from which Slade went over.

Flanker Guy Pepper has taken his own shot with four starts of understated excellence this autumn.

England run deep. Now, to keep progressing, they have to flow better.

Their current run of 11 straight wins matches a streak put together by England that straddled 2000 and 2001.

Peak Clive Woodward era, it included an autumn in which, eight minutes into injury time, Dan Luger touched down an Iain Balshaw chip ahead to beat the world champion Australians.

This England team doesn’t quite have a statement win of that magnitude on the books.

It doesn’t yet have units that complement each other as well and instinctively as Lawrence Dallaglio, Neil Back and Richard Hill – the back row that day.

There will be more taxing tests to pass. France away on the final day of the Six Nations looms especially large.

But in a Test world in which South Africa stand alone at the summit, England have a strong claim to being the Springboks’ closest challengers.

They also have a spirit and winning habit that will take some stopping in the Six Nations and beyond.

Ojomoh returned to that point again at the end.

«The last five minutes sums up where we are at as a team, as we are happy to dog out wins like that,» he said.

After the pain of 2024, England are invariably having their day in 2025.