Ford leads 14-man England to dominant Argentina win regardless of Curry purple
Fly-half Ford booted all of England’s factors and piloted his crew so effectively across the Stade Velodrome that Steve Borthwick’s facet coped comfortably with Tom Curry’s purple card lower than three minutes in.
Curry had a yellow card upgraded to purple for head-on-head contact with Argentina full-back Juan Cruz Mallia, however England delivered a efficiency of energy and poise to suffocate the harmful Pumas.
Sale star Ford pinged three drop objectives in seven first-half minutes, in a blitz that in the end ended Argentina’s argument. The 30-year-old delivered an emphatic impression of South Africa’s Jannie de Beer, who blasted a World Cup file 5 drop objectives when the Springboks defeated England 44-21 within the 1999 quarter-final.
England went again to the long run for his or her gameplan in France’s second metropolis, all excessive bombs and punts to the nook. When the Red Rose males did attempt to assault with width, once more their strategy got here undone.
But all of the rustiness and error-strewn performances of August washed away amid a muscular Marseille masterclass in bludgeon-first rugby. Ford ended a exceptional evening with six penalties and people three drop objectives that completely destroyed Michael Cheika’s Argentina.
England would have feared the worst when Tom Curry’s yellow card was upgraded to purple
/ Getty ImagesWhen De Beer was booting that file 5 drop objectives for South Africa in 1999, Ollie Chessum, Freddie Steward, George Martin and Theo Dan had not even been born.
Marcus Smith and Ollie Lawrence have been not more than new child infants, whereas Westlife have been primary within the UK with Flying Without Wings.
England have been in freefall with out an airfoil simply final month amid three defeats in 4 warm-up matches, however now Borthwick’s males are hovering again in direction of the southern France solar.
Borthwick’s males can now sit up for a quarter-final, supplied they will maintain this customary. Beat Japan in Nice subsequent weekend and Pool D can be theirs for the taking.
England nonetheless can’t decipher the riddle that’s backline attacking, however who cares when you’ll be able to energy into place to ping dwelling repeated three-pointers.
England’s try-scoring prowess stays damaged, however proper now, there may be merely no want to repair it. Captain Owen Farrell can be obtainable once more for the third pool stage match, in opposition to Chile. On this proof nonetheless, Ford should keep within the pocket at 10.
Captain Courtney Lawes, Maro Itoje and Ben Earl have been all distinctive, so as to add to Ford’s match-winning flip. England’s scrum was rock strong and the lineout was again to its towering greatest.
England’s evening started in catastrophe. Curry clanged heads with Mallia simply two minutes in, and was despatched to the sin-bin for his troubles. When his card was later upgraded to purple by the bunker evaluation, England’s robust project was a nightmare temporary.
George Ford shocked the out-of-sorts Pumas with three drop objectives in seven first-half minutes
/ APEmiliano Boffelli banged over a long-range penalty to steal the 3-0 lead for the Pumas and put England on the rack. The Argentina wing missed with one other aim shot nonetheless, after which Cheika’s males misplaced Santiago Carreras to a pointless yellow card.
The Gloucester fly-half opted to not pull out of a cost down and clattered Ford. He was maybe lucky to keep away from seeing purple himself. Ford rapidly levelled with a penalty of his personal, however then got here the affirmation of Curry’s purple.
England lastly put some section play collectively – just for Elliot Daly to provide a curious grubber kick. With males round him and area on the sting of the 22, this was nothing however profligate.
Argentina then additionally wasted their greatest platform of the half, eschewing a shot at aim for a faucet penalty – solely to be turned over by a monster Lawes steal.
But then got here England’s drop-goal moments. Ford delivered three luxurious efforts from the pocket in simply these seven minutes.
Daly even had time to overlook a long-range penalty shot amid Ford’s barrage, however in a flash, England have been 12-3 up and one way or the other out of hazard.
Santiago Carreras missed a snap drop-goal shot of his personal amid the maelstrom, and England even managed to butcher a five-on-two overlap on the sting of the Argentina 22.
Rodrigo Bruni grabbed a late attempt for Argentina, nevertheless it was nothing greater than a comfort
/ REUTERSBorthwick’s males have been nonetheless 12-3 up although, and took that benefit into half-time. England continued their aerial assault after the break, and Ford continued his flawless kicking for aim, too.
The Sale star booted three extra penalties within the third quarter, to place England successfully out of sight at 21-3 on the hour. Daly missed a second long-range shot at aim as England appeared to show the screw nonetheless additional.
Ford added two extra penalties as England obliterated Argentina’s problem, most notably on the breakdown. Rodrigo Bruni claimed a comfort rating on the dying for Argentina, which means the Pumas grabbed the only real attempt of the evening.
Boffelli transformed to gloss the scoreline, however England have been out of sight – and already plotting their path to the knockout phases.