DUNEDIN, New Zealand -- England survived a ferocious Argentina side and a ragged performance of its own to open its Rugby World Cup campaign with a 13-9 win on Saturday. Jeff Locke . Scrumhalf Ben Youngs came on as second-half replacement and offered the spark that England had missed, finding a rare gap in the defence and darting over for the only try of the Pool B encounter. Argentina should have been out of reach after England conceded a string of penalties at the breakdown but five missed kicks by Martin Rodriguez and one by Felipe Contepomi kept the Six Nations champions in touch despite a miserable kicking performance by Jonny Wilkinson. "Its blindingly obvious that we could easily have lost that game," England team manager Martin Johnson said. Still, its the outcome that matters. "Do I think were a fair winner?" he said. "Were the winner. We scored more points and thats how we decide it." Wilkinson converted for 10-9 to put England in front for the first time after 66 minutes and then landed a penalty to complete the scoring in the 74th, but the usually reliable flyhalf missed five kicks of his own under the glass roof of Dunedins Otago Stadium. "I dont even know how many I missed," Wilkinson said. "Im not going to apportion any kind of blame other than to myself. Im the one kicking the ball." But Wilkinson wasnt alone. Between them, the rival teams succeeded with just six of 17 place kicks in the unique sealed environment. "He said he just couldnt get the control on the ball," England captain Mike Tindall said. "He said he was hitting it well, but couldnt control it." Until Youngs intervention, Argentina seemed set to open the World Cup with a shock win for a second straight tournament. Four years after beating host France in an opening night upset, Argentina dominated the setpiece and breakdown against England with No. 8 Juan Martin Lobbe earning the man-of-the-match award. Aside from one 40-meter (yard) break by fullback Ben Foden midway through the first half, England showed little enterprise. Without England figuring a way around them, Lobbe and Julio Cabello not only prevented the English from making ground but continually drove them back when they took the ball into contact. England openside flanker James Haskell seemed to suggest to the referee that the physicality had spilled over into gouging, but said after the match that the Pumas had just about kept things legal. "At the last breakdown, I got a bit het up," said Haskell, sporting a huge purple bruise under his left eye. "I got cleared out. I had hands in my face and I think it was just a bit of over-exuberance in the end. In the heat of the moment you react as you do." Argentina could have been 18-6 ahead at the break had Contepomi and Rodriguez landed all their kicks rather than landing just one each. "We said before we came, thats what World Cups are about," Johnson said. "Youll be in a game where its not going your way, probably getting a few penalties against you, the bounce of the ball seems to be not favouring you and youve got to find a way to win. "And we did." Having spent much of the buildup to the match highlighting their improved discipline, England failed to heed referee Bryce Lawrences early warning for conceding three penalties in the first four minutes. Lawrence eventually sent prop Dan Cole to the sin bin in the 34th minute, giving Argentina a one-man advantage. Argentina started the second half ferociously against Englands 14 men but two try-scoring opportunities following breaks by Rodriguez and replacement flyhalf Marcelo Bosch yielded only a penalty by Rodriguez for 9-3 by the time Cole returned. At least England got their man back. Argentinas Contepomi and Gonzalo Tiesi were both carried from the field in the first half with serious looking injuries. "I wont know for sure what the injury is until I go to the hospital for an X-ray," Contepomi said. "It could be a cartilage, it could be a rib." Prop Rodrigo Roncero had already been off for treatment on his bleeding head when Contepomi departed after receiving lengthy treatment as played continued around him. Tiesi was then helped off by medics after writhing in pain with a suspected knee ligament injury sustained in a tackle, with a replay of the incident on the big screens at Otago Stadium drawing gasps from crowd. Argentinas exertions began to tell with gaps opening up and Youngs, who replaced Richard Wigglesworth in the 50th, showed what England had missed when he sat out its three warmup matches injured. Until then, it had been the Pumas who came closest to a try, with veteran hooker Mario Ledesma, prop Juan Figallo and then Cabello held up on the line. Ledesma tried to crunch his way through, Figallo was blocked on the ground just short and Cabello tried to leap over a pile of bodies before Lawrence pulled play back for an earlier offside by Steve Thompson. Englands best opportunity at that stage had come when, with captain Contepomi down, Foden made his break. Upended by last man Cabello, he threw out to Delon Armitage, who hesitated before starting for the line and was caught. "The best thing about it from my point of view is that no one panicked," Tindall said. No one got stressed and we just carried on. Once we played the sort of rugby we wanted to play, we got under the sticks." Christian Ponder . The assistants greeted Aldridge with compliments and high fives. Stotts had only one word for his high-scoring forward: "Thanks." Aldridge had 25 points and 16 rebounds in his return after missing seven games with a lower back contusion, and the Trail Blazers beat the Atlanta Hawks 100-85 on Thursday night to end a three-game losing streak. Matt Cassel . Brooks scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter against his former club, spearheading a 101-92 victory over Boston on Friday night and helping snap a franchise-record eight-game home losing streak. Bazemore had 15 points, including a pair of clutch 3-pointers less than 2 minutes apart during the final 4:20 as the Lakers outscored the Celtics 38-18 in the final period.San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker is listed as day-to-day after an MRI conducted Thursday revealed a Grade 1 strain in his left hamstring. Parker left Wednesdays series-clinching win over Portland early in the second quarter with tightness in his hamstring and did not return. He was 0-for-2 from the floor prior to exiting the evventual victory, which sent the Spurs into the Western Conference finals for the third straight year. Corey Wootton. . The six-time All-Star averaged 23 points and 6.5 assists through the first four games against the Trail Blazers. San Antonio will start the Western Conference finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday. ' ' '
