England made a disastrous start to the autumn after Emiliano Boffelli inspired Argentina to only their second ever victory at Twickenham with a 30-29 win.
Two tries in quick succession by Boffelli and Santiago Carreras catapulted the Pumas into a 24-16 lead with 30 minutes to go as they looked to end a 10-Test losing run in the fixture.
But 29 seconds after coming on as a replacement for Ben Youngs, scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet raced clear from a ruck to slide over the line and, with Owen Farrell kicking a penalty, England appeared to have emerged from the crisis.
Boffelli had other ideas, however, as he kept hitting the target in an individial 25-point haul that gives Argentina a pyscological edge ahead of their group clash at next year's World Cup.
A flat afternoon only came to life when Argentina, led by Australian coach Michael Cheika, found the keys to the home defence and it took Van Poortvliet’s quick wits to keep England in contention.
Manu Tuilagi made his first England appearance in a year because of hamstring and knee injuries but he limped off in the 67th minute having made a muscular impact up until that point.
It was also an encouraging afternoon for giant wing Joe Cokanasiga, who was a far greater threat than in the July series opener against Australia after which he was dropped.
But otherwise it was a dismal display from the hosts as the Pumas emulated their breakthrough in 2006 by storming Twickenham.
Heavy rain through the morning took its toll on the spectacle, making handling treacherous early on, but England were also guilty of snatching at their passes.
Drizzle gave way to bright sunshine as debutant second row Alex Coles made an off-the-ball tackle and then dropped a restart, helping Boffelli kick
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