England's rugby players avenged defeat to Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals with a chaotic, ill-tempered 31-24 Nations Championship victory that went to the wire in Santiago del Estero.
Steve Borthwick's side recorded a sixth straight win on Argentinian soil to offer a crumb of consolation three days on from heartache at the hands of Lionel Messi and co in Atlanta.
England received a hostile reception at Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades, where Argentina's players wore replica shirts inspired by Diego Maradona's iconic 1986 World Cup kit and fans unveiled Falklands-themed banners in the stands.
England looked to do their talking on the pitch, with Tommy Freeman's early try and a Ben Earl double silencing the partisan home crowd and securing a 16-point half-time lead.
Argentina, who had been reduced to skirmishes in a one-sided first half, roared back after the break, slashing the deficit to two through Mateo Carreras' score and a penalty try that saw England reduced to 13 men after Alex Coles joined Jack van Poortvliet in the sin-bin.
Marcus Smith's score in the corner and a stunning solo finish from Immanuel Feyi-Waboso looked to have shielded England from costly ill-discipline, only for further yellow cards to Henry Pollock and Emmanuel Iyogun to leave them needing to see out the game with 13 men.
Justo Piccardo's 80th-minute score moved Argentina to within a converted try of salvaging an unlikely draw, which Bautista Delguy looked to have secured when he crossed with the clock four minutes into the red.
But a dramatic TMO intervention, which ruled Delguy in touch, came to England's rescue in the final act of a Test match that was as absorbing as it was bonkers.
The victory, England's second of the inaugural Nations Championship, leaves them third in the Northern Hemisphere table after the summer series of games but came at a cost, with centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg forced off injured.
England hit the front inside four minutes. Fin Smith found Northampton team-mate Freeman, restored to the wing, with a pinpoint cross-field kick as the visitors claimed the first score, sparking the first melee between the teams.
The try stood, but Argentina were awarded a penalty from the restart after Ollie Chessum's antagonism. It ushered in a sustained spell of pressure from the hosts, which England withstood manfully without conceding a point.
England stretched their lead midway through the half as Feyi-Waboso scythed through the Argentina defence before offloading to Earl to apply the finishing touch.
A penalty from the boot of Tomas Albornoz eventually got Argentina on the board on the half-hour mark, but England struck back immediately, Earl dotting down a simple second after England obliterated the Pumas pack from a five-metre scrum.
England led by 16 at the break, but Argentina's second-half response was forceful and rapid, wing Mateo Carreras burrowing over alongside the forwards within three minutes of the restart.
Van Poortvliet's sin-binning for a deliberate knock-on was compounded by another for lock Coles, whose denial of a try-scoring opportunity saw Argentina awarded a penalty try.
Ill-discipline proved contagious, with Joaquin Oviedo sent to the bin for a dangerous clear-out on Guy Pepper, shifting momentum in England's favour.
Marcus Smith's score and Feyi-Waboso's waltz through the defence looked to have finished Argentina off once and for all, but the loss of Pollock and debutant Iyogun set up the tensest of finishes, which England somehow survived after Delguy was denied by the TMO following Piccardo's lifeline score.
Player of the match - Immanuel Feyi-Waboso - said post-match:
"A tough fought match, right until the end. For it to finish like that, was very dramatic.
"Argentina, their passion, the fans, the atmosphere was amazing.
"Obviously, discipline wasn't great from us, but we managed to see out the victory in the end.
"Our discipline makes it very hard to win."
