Argentina 23 England 26: Owen Farrell breaks Rugby World Cup record as Red Rose pip rivals in third-place play-off

Owen Farrell’s boot helped England claim World Cup bronze but this stumble proved they are miles off gold standard.

The England skipper kicked 16 points to set an all-time competition record of 75 as Steve Borthwick’s side crawled past the Pumas – who nearly pooped Ben Youngs and Co’s leaving party in Paris.

Borthwick’s England were supposed to give us a glimpse of the future but this scrap for third place was a blast from the past.

After one step forward in a losing cause against South Africa last week this was two steps back for the Red Rose brigade.

Flanker Sam Underhill had a stormer, making 24 tackles,highlighting Borthwick’s blunder in leaving him out in the first place but he was the only one.

Wing Henry Arundell had a nightmare, with his only significant touch ending up in a botched kick, Marcus Smith looked out of place at 15 and Manu Tuilagi was flat.

But leader Farrell defended his men for digging out a win against a side they had beaten handily in the pool stages.

Farrell said: “It was tough, very tough. We did what we needed to do to grind out a win. 

"It’s a big chapter of our journey this year and it’s the end for some people, so we wanted to make it a good day for them. 

We want to show that this team fights for every minute of the game. That scrappy game proved that. We wanted to finish off this tournament off right.”

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Joe Marler, Danny Care, Jonny May and Dan Cole are likely to follow Youngs and Courtney Lawes out of the door but this bash fell flat as Argentina piled into England in the second half.

Youngs’ last Test was a damp squid lasting just 51 minutes and Tom Curry, in his 50th cap and the centre of a racist rumpus all week, was subbed off just before.

Now the rebuild starts for boss Borthwick and he needs a masterplan to get England firing in the Six Nations - this was nowhere near good enough to trouble France and Ireland.

Saracens’ Ben Earl has been England’s player of the tournament and cut through the Puma defence off a short pass from Smith to help England to a 10-0 lead.

It was the first touchdown of Earl’s Test career but England went AWOL later.

Argentina were smarting from the 27-10 defeat to Borthwick’s crew in their first pool match and, after another two Farrell penalties, cut the lead to 16-10 at the break when scrum-half Tomas Cubelli crashed over for a controversial try.

Arundell had not had a touch and when Gloucester’s Santiago Carreras went over just after the break England were under the pump at 17-16 down.

The Racing 92-bound wing had a shocker, with one second half kick going nowhere before he was hauled off.

Hooker Theo Dan grabbed the lead back as somehow England were 26-23 with three minutes left.

But Nicolas Sanchez’s penalty could have squared it. But England escaped.

Outgoing Red Rose scrum-half Youngs told ITV: "It was a huge effort last week and then we were fast out of the blocks, we found a rhythm and found a way.

"We wanted to be here tomorrow night, but it is still a nice win tonight."

Scorers - Argentina: Tries: Cubelli, S.Carreras; Cons; Boffelli (2); Pens: Boffelli (2),Sanchez. England: Tries: Earl, Dan; Cons: Farrell (2); Pens: Farrell (4).