MARSEILLE, France: England were 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 champions. 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 were 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.