After holding off the toothless Pumas for 40 minutes to lead by three points at the break, England then took charge, Sale’s Tom Roebuck scoring twice and Freddie Steward of Leicester also finding a try in the space of nine minutes.
Argentina hit back with two scores of their own – but marshalled by the superb George Ford, earning his 100th cap, England showed composure and defensive fortitude to keep their hosts in check.
Ford added two penalties to stretch England’s lead before Harlequins wing Cadan Murley completed the job with a well-taken try five minutes from the end.
“We were under pressure in the first half – we gave away too many penalties, and didn’t get out of our half well enough,” Ford said. “We needed to create some try-scoring opportunities, which we did early in the second half.”
At one stage in the first half, England were down to 13 men with Alex Coles and Seb Atkinson in the sin-bin, but held firm in the face of relentless Argentina attacking.
It was while Coles was off the field that Ford, who became the eighth male centurion for England, provided the half’s only score with a drop goal.
After the break, Steve Borthwick’s side cut loose, Roebuck applying the finish to an excellent move, although Ford missed the conversion from the touchline.
Just five minutes later, Ford turned provider to tee up Steward to touch down between the posts before another superb passing move opened the door for Roebuck to notch his second.
The shellshocked Pumas hit back through a try from Pablo Matera, whose 109th cap levelled the record for most appearances for his country, and another fine score from Bristol lock Pedro Rubiolo trimmed the gap to 10 points.
It was not enough, though, as Ford added two composed penalties from distance to put the game out of reach before Murley added the gloss.
Argentina, who beat the British and Irish Lions 28-24 in Dublin just two weeks ago and are one place above England at fifth in the world rankings, have plenty of questions to answer before the second Test in San Juan next Saturday.