England 37 Argentina 15

MARTIN Johnson warned England must be up for the fight if they are to complete a series victory over Argentina in the hostile surroundings of Salta next Saturday.

England won the first Test 37-15 at Old Trafford on Saturday with two tries from Delon Armitage, a try on debut for Matt Banahan and 22 points from the boot of Andy Goode. But Johnson expects a backlash from Argentina and he demanded England summon every last ounce of aggression to kill off the wounded Pumas.

‘‘We have to knuckle down mentally and physically and get ready to play. We have to want to go out there and fight again and battle again,’’ said Johnson. ‘‘We can’t say ‘that was enough last week, let’s go out and see what happens’ – we have to be even more disciplined and more resilient and more accurate and more tenacious then we were today.

‘‘When we hit Argentinian turf we have got to improve.

We can’t forget the edge we had this week and Argentina will raise themselves.

‘‘If they can win this game it will take some doing but it is one we are capable of. There are not many English players who have won in Argentina so it will be a real achievement to do it. Let’s have one big last effort on the pitch and finish the season on a high.’’ England have now won three consecutive Tests for the first time under Johnson and the victory lifted them above Argentina to fifth in the world rankings.

England’s last Test in Argentina was in 2002, when Phil Vickery led a weakened side to a memorable victory in Buenos Aires. Johnson was one of those missing from the tour but the result is regarded as one of the significant landmarks towards England’s 2003 World Cup triumph.

England have nine leading players away on Lions duty.

The next seven days will give Johnson the chance to learn some invaluable lessons about the team’s character.

Banahan’s attitude has already impressed, while Johnson believes Danny Care is growing in maturity as a Test scrum-half with every outing.

But the likes of Test newcomer Steffon Armitage and James Haskell, who is battling to regain his regular Test spot after losing form this season, a great deal rides on the next seven days.

‘‘Going to Argentina will be very different but it will be a good experience for us all. We have got to get better as a team this week – it is a different challenge,’’ said Johnson.

‘‘We will be in a very hostile environment but that is good for this group and that is what they want to go through.’’ Care was a livewire and Delon Armitage continued to raise questions about his exclusion from the Lions squad with another classy performance.

It was a source of much pride to defence coach Mike Ford that England kept Argentina tryless after shipping five tries to the Barbarians in last week’s non-cap international.