George Ford kicked 27 points to steer England to a magnificent World Cup victory over Argentina after they were reduced to 14 men after three minutes.
Tom Curry was sent off by the bunker review system for a clash of heads with Juan Cruz Mallia that took place in the third minute in Marseille.
England controlled the second half and Ford added 15 points as England started Pool D with a morale-boosting win.
Rodrigo Bruni powered over in the 79th minute for the only try of the game for hapless Argentina.
There’s not exactly a large sample but this was, by a million miles, the biggest win of Steve Borthwick’s reign as England coach, a win that he not only wanted but very badly needed to quell the gathering storm around his running of the team.
It was an old school triumph that was in name only similar to the feast of rugby on Friday night when France beat the All Blacks. But if England are to revive themselves, it has to start somewhere – and this was hugely encouraging.
Despite being down in numbers for all bar a few minutes, it was a win orchestrated by the unflappable Ford, who took the game by the scruff of its neck and didn’t let go.
Their dominance was then hammered home by England’s physicality, which hasn’t been spotted so much of late. England beat the Pumas in every facet. It was no oil painting of a game – very far from it, in fact – but given where they were coming from, the England management might have been minded to look at it like a thing of wonder hanging in the Louvre.
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