Written off, 14-man England's guts, Ford's boot deliver win over Argentina at 2023 Rugby World Cup
— England was written off before a ball was kicked against Argentina at the Rugby World Cup. Even more so after an early red card. Another stinging defeat appeared likely for the struggling former champion.
But England came alive under the pressure in Marseille in a performance driven by sheer guts to beat Argentina 27-10 on Saturday and mute some of the criticism that's come the team's way over the last month.
Stand-in flyhalf George Ford kicked all of England's points, including three sweetly hit drop goals in the space of eight minutes in the first half, to leave under-fire coach Steve Borthwick smiling broadly — a rare picture lately considering his team's deep rut of form heading into this tournament.
England was down a man from two minutes in at Stade Velodrome after flanker Tom Curry’s head clash with Juan Cruz Mallia resulted, first, in a yellow card and then a red under rugby's new bunker review system.
A 14-man England responded to take nearly every chance that came its way from a careless Argentina to start Pool D with a big win that no one saw coming.
It was even given royal approval, with Catherine, Princess of Wales, at the game and applauding and smiling near the end with England's victory minutes away.
The 80th-minute try was Argentina's first points since Emiliano Boffelli gave it a 3-0 lead after four minutes. Between the scores, England repelled everything else.
Next:
England face Japan, while Argentina meets the Continent Fiji on Sunday, 17th September.
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