On reflection, despite the win, disgusted by Angus Gardner's abject refereeing.
To start, Gardner is more concerned about Chessum running up to the scuffle after Freeman's try than Mateo Carreras hitting Freeman in the head when they are both still on the ground, or Albornoz literally punching Freeman in the face during the same scuffle. Plenty of Argentinian players ran in too. Apparently Chessum is the one who "escalated" the situation, somehow.
Decision: restart the game with a penalty to Argentina. Farcical, disgusting decision. For this alone I would question his capacity to be a referee at any level.
Throughout the game, England constantly getting pinged for offside. Several of those I think were really questionable. Argentina never get pinged for being offside, despite being so plenty of times. Example: Mayco Vivas at 19:50 clearly never gets back onside while England are going forward, right in front of Gardner's face, no advantage for offside. Plenty more examples throughout the game. Blatant and disgusting level of bias on display.
First time the TMO comes in to highlight a head shot by Mateo Carreras on Freeman, Gardner immediately starts making excuses for Mateo Carreras, saying Freeman is bent and he sees no foul play. Freeman's head is at the same height as Marcus Smith's chin (Smith is standing) when contact is made. Never seen a ref start immediately making excuses like that for the infringing player when the foul play is so undeniably obvious. TMO has to argue and convince Gardner before the yellow is awarded.
After England's third try the Argentinians clearly start a scuffle with Jamie George. When Gardner thought Chessum had run in and "escalated" things he restarted with a penalty to Argentina. When Argentina are the ones to "escalate" it's "calm down lads, I know you're frustrated that the English haven't given me more excuses to penalise them but there's only so much I can do". (I exaggerate only slightly.)
Alex Coles' yellow card and penalty try demonstrates how pathetically bad Gardner's understanding of the laws of the game is. Nowhere near the level required for a professional referee. For Coles' actions to constitute cynical play, a ruck must have been formed. Otherwise he is entitled to play for the ball. If a ruck has been formed then Albornoz is guilty of playing the ball on the ground before Coles' actions. It is pure contraction. The rule he uses against Coles would have Albornoz guilty of an infringement (attempting to offload) first. Gardner can clearly be heard accusing Coles of "side entry", which could only apply to a ruck (in this context). Therefore the attempted offload by Albornoz is illegal. And though the ball goes forwards off Coles, Coles is clearly attempting to knock the ball backwards. At worst, this is an accidental knock-on only, going back for the penalty that was being played under advantage. Dreadful refereeing that demonstrates complete disregard (or worse ignorance) of the laws.
After Marcus Smith's try that involved a blatant deliberate knock-on by Santi Carreras (far more obvious that what Coles and van Poortvliet were yellow carded for) Gardner can be heard on the ref mic saying, "it was realistic for me". Meaning it was a "realistic attempt to catch the ball". Only when the other officials question it and the replays in the stadium make the deliberate knock-on undeniable does he relent and give Santi Carreras a yellow card. Absurd levels of bias on display.
At 65:20 Guido Petti punches Jack van Poortvliet to the ground while they are both moving past each other to be back onside after a tackle. Clear penalty and potential card. On the way down van Poortvliet bumps onto Gardner who then believes he is the one who knocked van Poortvliet over. When play stops and Gardner is told by an England player that van Poortvliet was struck to the ground Gardner refuses to look into the incident, saying, "it was off my elbow." And again when the England players repeats their protest.
And finally Argentina's disallowed try at end the game. You could tell that the ball lands in touch from the first replay. But Gardner spends 5 minutes arguing with the TMO that the obvious no-try is, in fact, a try. Only because the TMO digs his heels in and insists that the ball lands in touch does this incident get officiated fairly, against the very best efforts of Gardner.
Of the 6 penalties that Argentina conceded in the entire match (an absurdity in itself) 2 of them were from TMO intervention. Only one team in this match was actually officiated by the referee. Gardner didn't penalise the Argentina players for repeated side entries and offsides, yet hammered England for these exact infringements at every opportunity. How many times did Pablo Matera take players out off the ball around the ruck, with Gardner just saying “no Pablo, don’t do that” repeatedly, and never actually penalising him?
At the end of the game what Gardner got from the Argentinian players was exactly what he had spent the entire match permitting them to do, from which perspective, he deserved.
Between this abject refereeing and the disgraceful behaviour of the Argentinian players, I've never seen anything quite like it.