England and Argentina went into their Division A encounter at Deramore, Belfast Harlequins in the knowledge that victory would edge them closer to a semi final spot at the IRB Under 19 World Championship 2007.
Both sides had won their opening games against Samoa and Argentina respectively and it was England who held on for a narrow 17-15 victory in a tight game that saw the teams perform in front of a large crowd with plenty of vocal encouragement.
England opened the scoring in the 10th minute when captain and number 8 Hugo Ellis touched down after his pack drove the ball over from a five-metre lineout with Argentina unable to repel the drive.
Argentina, though, responded well to going behind and pressure exerted on the England scrum resulted in turnover ball, which scrum half Martin Landajo fed out to wing Ignacio Poet Belmonte for him to sprint in from the 22 metre line.
Tense finish
With half time approaching England extended their lead when centre Alex Tait, brother of full international Mathew, raced in to give his side a 14-5 advantage at the break with Alex Goode having converted both this and Ellis’ try.
The second half was a tighter affair with Goode kicking a penalty after eight minutes stretching England’s lead to 17-5, but Argentina were not finished and Belmonte responded with a penalty before Guillermo Roan set up a nervous finish with a try.