England trailed for nearly 70 minutes before Leicester Tigers scrum-half Youngs – on as a 60th-minute replacement – darted over to score from close range.
Suffering at the hands of the referee’s whistle in the first half, England trailed 6-3 at the break, then 9-3 before Youngs made his intervention in his first playing appearance since the Aviva Premiership Final in May.
Jonny Wilkinson’s conversion gave Martin Johnson’s team the lead for the first time and the fly-half added a late penalty to create a bit of breathing space in a tense and testing opening game.
Dan Cole – who received a first-half yellow card as England were repeatedly penalised at the breakdown – was joined in the England pack by Leicester colleagues Louis Deacon and Tom Croft, with Manu Tuilagi making his World Cup debut in the centres. Toby Flood was among England's unused subs.
Their Tigers team-mate Horacio Agulla was one of Argentina’s most impressive performers, making good use of any ball that reached him on the left wing and looking assured in defence.
