'Any means necessary’: The Henry Slade take on the Bautista Delguy non-try

Henry Slade insists he was determined to nail his man as he emerged as England’s saviour against Argentina with a remarkable try-saving tackle at the death of a 31-24 victory in Santiago del Estero.

Slade raced to his team’s rescue three minutes into overtime with a “just get him out, any means necessary” challenge that edged Bautista Delguy’s finish in the right corner out of play.

Referee Angus Gardner awarded a try but it was overruled by video referee Brett Cronan in a lengthy and dramatic climax to an exhausting tour that has taken England to three continents.

Had Delguy scored and the conversion been added, Argentina would have snatched a draw.

Slade said: “Just get him out, any means necessary. Thankfully I was able to do it.

“It was pretty close in the end, but it wasn’t as close as they made it out to be. Touch is touch, I guess.

“It’s a nerve-wracking situation. You don’t know what the refs and the TMOs are going to do.

“From our perspective, all we could do was force him as wide as possible and keep scrapping right to the end.

“If we did that and they scored it, they’d have had to take a tough kick right from the touchline and we’d then put pressure on the kicker. That’s all we could do really.”

England finished their 25,000-mile Nations Championship expedition with two wins in three matches, a solid return given their brutal itinerary and their spirit is beyond dispute.

But their victory over Argentina was made far harder than it should have been following their customary disciplinary implosion, on this occasion losing four players to the sin bin to leave them playing nine minutes with 13 men.

Injury meant they actually finished the game with just 12 on the field and twice they were forced to repel Pumas fightbacks, initially having raced 19-3 ahead.

It was total chaos at times with players streaming on and off the pitch and England have now been shown 14 yellow cards and one red in eight Tests in 2026.

Slade said: “I didn’t actually know what position I was in at the end. I was changing from 10, to 12, 13, 15 – I don’t know!

“The desire and the intent from the boys and the never-say-die attitude is unquestionable. It’s just that we have to couple that with better discipline.

“Our discipline has been a thing we’re trying to work on because when we’ve got 15 on the pitch, we were a really, really top side.

“I can’t fault the effort and desire and intent of the boys, we’ve just got to find a way to keep everyone on the pitch. No one’s trying to get sin-binned, no one’s trying to get sent off.”