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Full-back Delon Armitage grabbed a brace of tries as England returned to winning ways with a 37-15 defeat of Argentina at Old Trafford.

Man-of-the-match Matt Banahan also touched down against the below-strength Pumas as Martin Johnson's England made amends for their surprise defeat to the Barbarians last weekend.

Andy Goode converted two of England's tries and also added four penalties to go with two sweetly-struck drop goals for a personal haul of 22 points.

Stade Francais fly-half Juan-Martin Hernandez scored all of the Pumas points with a drop goal and four penalties in what was a scrappy affair with little flowing rugby.

But that will be of little concern to Johnson as the victory moved England ahead of Argentina in the world rankings and into fifth place.

Where the Barbarians were happy to throw the ball around last week, Argentina mostly adopted their traditional attacking ploy of forwards picking and driving close to the break down.

England's defence may have been stretched on several occasions but it was rarely behind the scrum, and with Steffon Armitage and James Haskell (pictured) effective at close quarters they were able to keep the Pumas from crossing their line.

Argentina were first on the scoreboard when Hernandez dropped a goal in the second minute after England had lost a lineout close to their line.

Hernandez had the chance to double the Pumas' lead moments later but missed his kick on goal, only for Goode to level the scores with his first penalty in the sixth minute after Argentina were caught offside.

Another penalty and drop goal from Goode extended England's lead ahead of their first try, which came in the 25th minute when Banahan won the race to Delon Armitage's grubber kick to touch down on his international debut.

Goode nailed the conversion and then landed one penalty to Hernandez's two to make the score 19-9 at half-time.

A third penalty from Goode soon after the break increased England's lead, but they were again pegged back by Hernandez following infringements from Dylan Hartley and Danny Care, who needlessly threw the ball away after conceding a lineout.

At 22-15 the visitors were right back in the game, but they were soon let down by their discipline which allowed Goode to add his fifth successful kick from seven attempts.

England's second try came just before the hour. Care made a darting break through the Pumas defence, and although his pass did not reach Mark Cueto, the wing cleverly volleyed the ball ahead for Delon Armitage to gather and crash over.

Goode added the conversion to give England some breathing space at 32-15 going into the final quarter.

Argentina continued to attack through their forwards, with skipper Juan Fernandez Lobbe and fellow back rower Juan Manuel Leguizamon taking the game to England.

The hosts conceded a number of soft tries against the Barbarians last week but this time they defended their line with an intensity that will have pleased Johnson - despite being down to 14 men when replacement prop Julian White was yellow carded for a late clear out.

With the game won, Goode opted for a cross field kick out of defence to Cueto waiting out wide on his wing.

Again Cueto was unable to catch the ball on the full but showed impressive footballing skills at the Theatre of Dreams to volley the ball down field.

Delon Armitage won the race to touch down and give England a boost ahead of the second Test with Argentina away in Salta next week.

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport