14-man England defeat Argentina in World Cup opener

9 Sep 2023 | 5 min |

14-man England defeat Argentina in World Cup opener

George Ford inspires England to victory.

George Ford scored 27 points as England opened their Rugby World Cup campaign with a hard-fought 27-10 win over Argentina in Marseille.

Ford's three drop goals and six penalties at Stade de Marseille proved too much for Los Pumas, whose points came via a Rodrigo Bruni converted try and an Emiliano Boffelli penalty.

Tom Curry was shown a yellow card inside the opening three minutes for a high tackle on Juan Cruz Mallía, resulting in a head clash. Boffelli fired the resulting penalty over from halfway, and a bunker review later upgraded Curry's yellow to a red.

Santiago Carreras was sent to the sin bin moments later as he collided into Ford, after he had hoisted a kick into the air. Referee Mathieu Raynal awarded a penalty where the ball landed, and Ford duly sent it over to level the match.

The Sale Sharks man slotted two 50-metre drop goals in the space of four minutes, as England took the lead for the first time in the match, and the fly-half was on hand again three minutes from the break to fire over another effort from inside the Argentine 22, making it 12-3.

The half time stats showed a competitive affair, with England boasting more possession (55%), making just one more carry, beating one more defender, and completing two more offloads than Los Pumas. An area Steve Borthwick's men out performed Argentina was making 61 more metres, with Ford topping the charts in that area.

Ford extended the lead to 12 points at the resumption, knocking over a simple penalty, as England grew into the game. Even with an extra man, Argentina struggled to break through as Courtney Lawes and Manu Tuilagi led an inspired defence.

Ford landed a further three penalties on the 54, 59 and 66 minute-mark, as the south Americans ran out of ideas, with each of their attempts to threaten the English line thwarted.

And England's fly-half bagged his best-ever points haul with five minutes remaining, slotting a sixth penalty. A late Bruni try was a consolation, as England confirmed a famous win.

England have now won their last four Rugby World Cup meetings with Argentina, the other three coming in 1995, 2011 and 2019 - all in the pool stages.

Reaction

George Ford: "We're a close team, we've had a lot to deal with in the build up to this World Cup, the last 10 days has been a different feel the way we have grabbed hold of it and it is a pleasure to be part of, but it's only game one and there is a lot to build on ahead of next week.

"Winning the first game is a good thing against a quality team like Argentina. We want to keep on improving."

Steve Borthwick: "I enjoy working with this group of players and I am pleased for them tonight. I'm also really pleased for the supporters, I said there would be a lot of supporters in the crowd tonight and there certainly was, the team loves the supporters and I think they really benefitted from how they got behind us tonight."

Teams

England

15. Freddie Steward, 14. Jonny May, 13. Joe Marchant, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Elliot Daly, 10. George Ford, 9. Alex Mitchell, 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Jamie George, 3. Dan Cole, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Ollie Chessum, 6. Courtney Lawes (C), 7. Tom Curry, 8. Ben Earl.

Replacements

16. Theo Dan, 17. Joe Marler, 18. Will Stuart, 19. George Martin, 20. Lewis Ludlam, 21. Danny Care, 22. Marcus Smith, 23. Ollie Lawrence.

Argentina

15. Juan Cruz Mallía, 14. Emiliano Boffelli, 13. Lucio Cinti, 12. Santiago Chocobares, 11. Mateo Carreras, 10. Santiago Carreras, 9. Gonzalo Bertranou, 1. Thomas Gallo, 2. Julián Montoya (C), 3. Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4. Matías Alemanno, 5, Tomás Lavanini, 6. Pablo Matera, 7. Marcos Kremer, 8. Juan Martín González.

Replacements

16. Agustín Creevy, 17. Jeol Sclavi, 18. Eduardo Bello, 19. Guido Petti, 20. Pedro Rubiolo, 21. Rodrigo Bruni, 22. Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 23. Matías Moroni.