England 4-0 Argentina
Blake celebrates his first goal
Teenage forward Chad Blake scored his first two goals for England, as the reigning European and World champions crushed Argentina 4-0 under the closed roof at Vodafone Stadium.
Bristol Pirates starlet Blake, 18, scored two crackers. The first from a James Douglas' cross which Blake belted from 25 yards, and the second a mazy solo run which confounded the Argentine defence.
Real Birmingham midfielder Douglas then made it three after the break from the spot after Blake was hauled down by Diego Carmano.
John Carey, the London Town striker, rounded off the scoring with ten minutes' left.
The youngster Blake's performance, will give Marco Garibaldi, who imposed an England exile before EuroCup 2012 for Edward Redwood following the Monsters attacker's sending-off in Wales, a lot to think about, although changes are expected to be made to the forward line when they face Garibaldi's native Italy on Tuesday.
Much talk before the game was the lethal threat of Argentinian playmaker Alberto Núñez, but the Barcelona Bullfighters star was disappointing throughout the whole 90 minutes, as the England defence, led by co-captain John Macdonald, played outstandingly well.
Argentina were disappointing throughout the contest, leading to their 2,000 fans who travelled all the way from South America to jeer them off at full time.
England: Simon Herding; Danny Miller, Mark Strickland, John Macdonald, Ashton Reid; Garry Stratford; James Douglas, Craig CraiCo; Chad Blake; John Carey, Adam Barry.
Argentina: Fabián Caballero; Diego Carmano, Facundo López, Daniel Hernán Ruiz, Francisco Boschmann; Julio Marconi, Hector Norquera, Nicolas Rodriguez; Ricardo Quesada, Alberto Núñez, Diego Darowski.
Referee: Mariusz Stankowski (Poland).
