England take positives from game of two halves

By Ed Osmond LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - England coach Stuart Lancaster took plenty of positives from his team's performance after a sparkling first half and spluttering second carried them to a 31-12 win over Argentina at Twickenham on Saturday. The hosts started quickly and scored three good tries before the interval but lost their way before replacement number eight Ben Morgan charged through a tired Pumas defence in the closing stages to add a bit of gloss to the scoreline before next week's match against world champions New Zealand. "Overall there were plenty of positives," Lancaster told a news conference. "We started the game very brightly, our intent was good and our accuracy was good but we fell away in the second half." Centre Billy Twelvetrees, criticised for his display in last week's 20-13 win over Australia, was one of the try-scorers as England's pack dominated the early stages. "Billy was disappointed with his performance last week but his attitude in training was excellent," Lancaster said. "He did well today, brought some composure to our back line and was delighted to get his try." England defence coach Andy Farrell was impressed by the way his players took the game to the powerful Argentina forwards. "First half we settled down brilliantly," he said. "Argentina were hanging on by the skin of their teeth and the game was set up brilliantly for us at halftime but just couldn't keep it going. There aren't many teams who maul Argentina like we did. "In the second half we lacked a bit of patience and conceded a few penalties. Lancaster knows his side will need to improve considerably if they want to repeat last year's stunning win over the All Blacks next Saturday. "The players are pleased overall with the performance but we are not jumping up and down because we know we have a tough game next week," he said. "Second half we were a bit loose and it wasn't good enough overall. But I would have taken that scoreline this morning. We've just got to get that consistency for 80 minutes." (Editing by Justin Palmer)