England overcome early lapses to nail Pumas

England came to Hong Kong bemoaning the inability to finish games off that has plagued their HSBC Sevens World Series campaign this season, but last night it was a slow start against Argentina that gave last year's runners-up something to think about.

A try less than two minutes into the game by Facundo Panceyra Garrido gave Argentina a 5-0 lead and quietened the masses of England supporters who had roared their heroes out on to the pitch.

When Dan Norton levelled the scores with two minutes to play in the first half there were still some anxious sideways glances being passed around the stands and things didn't get any better when Diego Palma crossed over to make it 10-5 to Argentina early in the second half.

But Ben Ryan's England know how to dig in and fight and tries to Rob Vickerman and Matt Turner were ably supported by Tom Mitchell conversions to send the fans home happy and England to the showers with a 19-10 win.

'From the kick-off they got a good start and when that happens you just don't want panic. From there we got back into it.

'If you can come through those games with a win it helps set your tournament out really - having a hard game to start with,' said England coach Ryan afterwards. 'We have never beaten Argentina over the past three years by more than a score. They work really hard against us and they've been a bit of a nemesis.