SUNDAY MORNING in Buenos Aires found Argentina commemorating the downfall of one king and England attempting to restore the dented pride of another.
A national holiday here to celebrate independence from the Spanish monarchy, declared on May 25th, 1810, put the capital in party mood. Thanks to the collective spirit of this England squad, to which the coach Jack Rowell paid glowing tribute, it may be that Alex King was ready to join in the fun.
But after an hour of Saturday's defeat by Buenos Aires he was anything but. It was at that point that King, having missed his last four kicks at goal, was removed from the fray and replaced by Mark Mapletoft.
King's slumped shoulders as he trooped off said it all, but Mapletoft was about to endure a similar nightmare. The Gloucester out-half's 490 points in domestic rugby last season - Mapletoft was the leading scorer in British rugby - counted for nothing as he saw four penalty goal attempts in the last eight minutes either sail wide or, in the case of the third, rebound off the right post.
In near perfect kicking conditions the failure of the pair to add to King's two early penalties and tries by Ben Clarke, Phil de Glanville and Jim Mallinder was a bitter pill for England to swallow.
It allowed Buenos Aires to add England, beaten by the same opponents on their last tour here in 1990, again to a list of vanquished visitors which includes South Africa, New Zealand and France in the last four years alone.
To their credit both King and Mapletoft were swift to hold their hands up after the match. Mapletoft said: "There are no excuses when you kick for your club week in week out. The posts are. the same size and the pitch is in the same position.
"But when I look back and think of all the times I have put kicks over to win matches, I would swop any of those if one of Saturday's had gone over.
King, deputy to Gareth Rees as goal kicker for the league champions Wasps, admitted: "I know my goal kicking is not as good as it could be. I have to convince people I can do it. I have learned that little mistakes can turn around a game so quickly."
There were no recriminations from their team-mates. Few from Rowell either, who, after admitting that two kicks out of 10 was not good enough, said: "Everyone has been consoling each other, including those that did not play in the match. This group will not be down for long."
England could claim with some justification that they had done enough to win. Their tries, particularly a rampaging run-in by Mallinder from 18 yards out, highlighted their ability to punish weaknesses in the opposition's defence.
Yet Buenos Aires were by no means lucky. They based their game around a solid pack and the razor-sharp thoughts and deeds of half-backs Niclas Fernandez Miranda and Jose Cilley. Both will be up against England again this week - Cilley in the Argentina A side tomorrow and Fernandes Miranda for the Pumas in Saturday's first Test.
England had their kicking woes it is true. But on several occasions Buenos Aires, who fielded five current Pumas, let them off the hook with some schoolboy handling errors.
Clarke, the pack leader, put on another show of concentrated and forceful back row play. But at crucial times England revealed the inherent difficulty of fielding what Rowell called "another scratch side".
Kevin Yates scrummaged solidly, appeared to good effect in the loose, and must be confident of claiming the number one jersey ahead of Coventry's Rob Hardwick. Mapletoft, too, made a good impression with everything but his place kicks in the 19 or so minutes he was on the field.
Rowell and his assistants must now know their test side, give or take a fitness check on the likes of Ade Adebayo, who missed Saturday's match with a dead leg. De Glanville left the field after a crack on the shin but it is not serious.
England must look to the first choice-half-backs Kyran Bracken and Mike Call to lead the way and hope that Clarke's form holds up. The Pumas have named the strongest side available to them, including the Bath pair Federico Mendez and German Llanes, and two other foreign-based players, Roberto Grau of the Gauteng Lions and Castres prop Matiricio Reggiardo.
