Jamie George flies to Australia to join up with the British and Irish Lions on Sunday with a song in his heart after watching England snatch series glory against Argentina with a last-minute try.

England’s senior player and co-captain had been withdrawn from the game just five hours before after Luke Cowan-Dickie was knocked out on Lions duty in Adelaide. It was a significant blow to Steve Borthwick’s inexperienced group and, in truth, their lineout suffered all evening. But none of that seemed to matter after Jack van Poortvliet came off the bench to score a last-minute try and win the tightest of games for the touring side.

“We found a way in the end,” said the skipper, George Ford, with a smile. “We had quite a few opportunities in the Argentina 22 and we could not execute, but I am proud of the boys and their effort.

“To go back-to-back in consecutive weeks against a brilliant team in Argentina is a great effort. I like our fight, togetherness, the way we are playing for each other. There was some great attacking stuff, although we probably should have scored more tonight. I like the attitude of this group.”

This was England’s sixth successive win, their best run of results under Borthwick and their longest unbeaten sequence since 2020. It was a result to leave Puma fans distraught.

Ford, once again, was England’s steadying influence. While all around struggled for composure, particularly in the red zone, he kept the show on the road.

The fly-half had returned with good memories of his last visit, a 23-point man-of-the-match display in 2017, when England likewise stole victory with a last-gasp try. That day they blooded 11 new caps, which made it some achievement. They did not, however, lose their skipper between breakfast and lunch on game day.

With George out there was more of an onus on Ford to lead. He delivered in spades. His vision and distribution made early tries for Seb Atkinson and Freddie Steward, before Ben Curry’s yellow card for shoulder-to-head contract let the home side back into the game.

The Pumas took full advantage to lead at the break, with a fortunate try on the stroke of half-time when Santi Carreras’s overcooked kick ricocheted off an upright away from Steward and into the path of Ignacio Mendy.

The Argentina legend Federico Méndez had warned beforehand that his old team, despite or perhaps because of changing half their team, would be up to 40% better than seven days ago. It did not look that way in attack but in defence they were magnificent, frustrating England at every turn.

Borthwick’s men kept pressing but first Joe Heyes spilled the ball over the line, then Tom Roebuck had a dose of the butterfingers under pressure from Matías Moroni.

The game drifted into the doldrums, with Felipe Contepomi’s side pinned in their own half and England’s attack as effective as a chocolate teapot.

Ford, finally, kicked a penalty to level the scores but any hope it would open the floodgates was dashed as, despite Borthwick sending on five replacements at once and the Pumas giving up Pablo Matera to the sin-bin on the day he became his country’s most-capped player, the deadlock remained.

Just when hope seemed lost England worked the ball to Guy Pepper in space on the right and Van Poortvliet appeared inside to apply the finish. The tourists escaped to victory and George headed towards Australia with a smile on his face.