England 31-12 Argentina: Stuart Lancaster Demands Improvement For All Blacks Clash
England coach Stuart Lancaster is seeking an improvement ahead of the third QBE autumn international against New Zealand despite running in four tries to beat Argentina.
Joe Launchbury, Billy Twelvetrees, Chris Ashton and Ben Morgan helped England secure a sixth successive win at Twickenham ahead of the visit of the All Blacks.
A first half blitz from the hosts was followed by an indifferent second half display and Lancaster says game management will hold the key to staging a second successive win over the world champions.
"First half we played with some real intent and I was delighted to go in 24-6 up," said Lancaster.
"In the second half clearly Argentina upped their game and we didn't quite manage the breakdown as well as in the first half. Argentina had the ball for long periods and we need to made sure we work on those areas."
"You're always striving for that 80 minute performance," he added.
"When you've got a young side and you're building, and you're playing a pretty experience side who have played in the Rugby Championship together and pushing Australia, South Africa and New Zealand close, you know they're going to have their moments in the game.
"Second half we didn't have the same sort of accuracy, a couple of penalties went against us and a couple of line-outs we didn't nail and as a consequence we lost momentum.
"In the second half they had more moments than we wanted but I thought we defended very well."
After back-to-back wins at the start of their autumn schedule, England are seeking to repeat their record-breaking win against New Zealand from last December.
The world No.1 ranked rugby nation, who have won their last 11 games prior to the meeting with France in Paris, will travel to Twickenham as the favourites to avenge the defeat of 11 months ago and Lancaster has identified how England can prevent such an event occurring.
"We know we need to improve in certain areas for next week," the England coach said. "The positives far outweigh the negatives though.
"I think all the players are pleased with the performance but no-one is jumping up and down because we've got a big game next week. When you've got a young side it's hard to back it up sometimes. Australia's win over Italy gives our performance last week some context too.
"Game management is the area we need to think about most. The All Blacks kick the ball more than any other side. How the game is won and lost next week is down to who manages the game the best."
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