Ford kicks 14-man England to win over lackluster Pumas

George Ford put on a kicking clinic, scoring all of England’s points as they embarrassed a lackluster Pumas side by a final score of 27-10 in Marseille. The decisive result came despite England playing nearly the entire game down a man after Tom Curry was sent off early, and leaves Argentina’s quarter final hopes in a precarious position just one game into their World Cup campaign.

There was controversy just three minutes in when Tom Curry clattered into Juan Cruz Mallia just as the Argentine fullback was landing from a high ball. There was head-on-head contact and as Mallia went to the sideline to receive repairs, Curry was sent from the pitch with a review determining his tackle to be worthy of a red card.

Emiliano Boffelli stepped up to take the three points on offer, and soon after made an attempt from long range but this time the uprights eluded his strike. A clumsy charge-down attempt from Santiago Carreras resulted in George Ford landing on his backside and Carreras getting 10 minutes in the sin bin. Ford had no trouble evening the scores from the resulting penalty.

Los Pumas were handed a golden opportunity after Marcos Kremer won a turnover, leading to a superb 50-22 from the boot of Santiago Chocobares. A set move was the call from a penalty that followed but the timing was off and instead Courtney Lawes won back possession for England. Soon after Ford sent a drop goal straight through the posts to nudge England into the lead.

Inaccuracy and poor discipline continued to plague Argentina. Elliot Daly attempted a shot at goal from well over halfway which fell short, but the clearance was bungled and soon after Ford took matters into his own hands again. This time the drop goal was from halfway and the result was another three points for England.

Carreras had his own designs on a long-range field goal but pushed it well wide. Pablo Matera was singled out for making contact with Freddie Steward in the air and the penalty gave away field position. Uncertain of a try, Ford again took three with a snap drop goal in front of the posts to give the English a 12-3 lead at the halftime break.

Positives were hard to find for Los Pumas in the 20 minutes following halftime. England dominated territory and possession, and the penalty count continued to climb. Like clockwork Ford stepped up to the tee and each time he was on target, with four more kicks making the lead unassailable at the hour mark.

A rare attacking opportunity nearly saw Matera score but the flanker was held up over the line. Once again England pushed back and once again Ford found his range, making it 27 unanswered points. Rodrigo Bruni barged over from close range with a minute to play but it was academic with the result long since decided.

England’s only complaint will be the failure to score any tries and in doing so missed out on a bonus point, but that should have little impact on the final standings in the pool. Their next match will be against Japan next Sunday, while Los Pumas have nearly two weeks to regroup ahead of their match against Samoa in Saint-Étienne on Friday, September 22nd.

 

SCORING

ENGLAND 27
Pens (6) – G. Ford 6/6 (10′, 45′, 53′, 58′, 66′, 75′), E. Daly 0/2
DG (3) – G. Ford 3/3 (27′, 31′, 37′)
RC (1) – T. Curry (3′)

ARGENTINA 10
Tries (1) – R. Bruni (79′)
Cons (1) – E. Boffelli 1/1 (80′)
Pens (1) – E. Boffelli 1/2 (4′)
DG (0) – S. Carreras 0/1
YC (1) – S. Carreras (9′)

 

TEAMS

ENGLAND
1 Ellis Genge (17 Joe Marler 54′), 2 Jamie George (16 Theo Dan 72′), 3 Dan Cole (18 Will Stuart 49′), 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Ollie Chessum (19 George Martin 59′), 6 Courtney Lawes (capt.) (20 Lewis Ludlam 65′), 7 Tom Curry, 8 Ben Earl, 9 Alex Mitchell (21 Danny Care 59′), 10 George Ford (22 Marcus Smith 75′), 11 Elliot Daly, 12 Manu Tuilagi (23 Ollie Lawrence 69′), 13 Joe Marchant, 14 Jonny May, 15 Freddie Steward

ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo (18 Eduardo Bello 63′), 2 Julián Montoya (capt.) (16 Agustín Creevy 69′), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela (17 Joel Sclavi 49′ {1 Thomas Gallo 66′}), 4 Matías Alemanno (19 Guido Petti HT), 5 Tomás Lavanini (20 Pedro Rubiolo 49′), 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Juan Martín González (21 Rodrigo Bruni 59′), 9 Gonzalo Bertranou (22 Lautaro Bazán Vélez 69′), 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Mateo Carreras (23 Matías Moroni 63′), 12 Santiago Chocobares, 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía (23 Matías Moroni 3′-10′)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistants: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand) & Pierre Brousset (France)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)