Written off, 14-man England’s guts and Ford’s boot deliver win over Argentina at Rugby World Cup

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.

A 14-man England responded to take nearly every chance that came their 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.

“It could have gone very wrong, but we dug in for each other,” said England captain and flanker Courtney Lawes, who was at the heart of a spirited performance. “It’s fantastic to be able to get a win.”

Ford kicked everything for a flawless night with his right boot. His run of drops started in the 27th minute and the second came from out near halfway. They took England from 3-3 and a tight start to 12-3 ahead in the blink of an eye. Ford also landed six penalties in a