Match Centre: Rugby World Cup Pool D: England 27-10 Argentina

England 27-10 Argentina, Pool D, Marseille

England successfully overcame a red card to Tom Curry as they sealed a 27-10 victory in the Pool D clash of the Rugby World Cup in Marseille on Saturday.

All of England's points came through George Ford, who landed six penalties and three drop goals while Rodrigo Bruni was the sole try scorer in the game when he dived late in the game for the Pumas.

Ford started in the game with Owen Farrell unavailable for England due to a suspension and he showed his kicking prowess much to the delight of Steve Borthwick as he headed into the game under a lot of pressure having lost three out of the four warm-up matches.

Curry just like his skipper Farrell and Billy Vunipola was sin-binned initially for a head-on-head contact with Juan Cruz Mallia and was later upgraded to a red card following the bunker review system with Emiliano Boffelli kicking a penalty goal in the 8th minute to start the proceedings for Argentina.

Argentina had their trouble with the indiscipline as Santi Carreras was sin-binned in the 9th minute for a late tackle on Ford, who with a three-pointer of his own levelled the scores for England. Argentina had a relief as Carreras' yellow card was not upgraded as they saw a try from Thomas Gallo ruled out due to a knock on.

Ford doubled their tally as he sent a long-range drop goal to make it 6-3 and a minute later wing Elliot Daly missed a three-pointer when he kicked from a distance. Nevertheless, another exceptional drop-goal from halfway from Ford extended England's lead to 9-3 despite being a player down.

A desperate effort from Argentina, who were desperate for a breakthrough ended with Carreras missing a drop goal attempt but Ford ensured he guided England to a 12-3 lead at the end of the opening half with his third successful drop goal.

Michael Cheika would be concerned with Argentina's indiscipline as another off side infringement saw Ford kicking his second penalty goal to make it 15-3 and he followed with another with Argentina skipper Julian Montoya warned over their indiscipline.

England made it 21-3 by the end of the third quarter as Argentina made another line out infringement. Argentina lacked their flare which they showed since Michael Cheika took over as England began to capitalise on it despite being a player down and two more penalty kicks from Ford just added to the Pumas' misery making it 27-3 as the Sale fly-half registered his record haul for the team.

Just as the full time was nearing, Argentina managed to take their tally to double figures with Rodrigo Bruni crashing over the line and Boffelli kicked the conversion but that could not prevent them from losing the encounter by 17 points.

What's Next:

England will be taking on Japan in their second game in Nice on 17th September while Cheika's men will be taking on Samoa in Saint-Étienne on 22nd September.

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England captain Courtney Lawes credited their forwards for exerting pressure on Argentina.

"Coley (Dan Cole) and Gengey (Ellis Genge) and Jinksy (Jamie George), the front three, unbelievable," he said.

"They really were the cornerstone of our game today, won loads of penalties and with penalties come territory and come points - basically won us the game."

Argentina head coach Michael Cheika expressed his frustration on not capitalising on Tom Curry's red card early in the game.

"There was almost no play. There were so many stoppages. The play we did get we didn't master every well. That was by design by the other team. They did it very well. They put us in that corner.

"Pretty much everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I think we let the play get too stop and start. England played the circumstances very well and full credit to them."

Team line up:

England: Steward, May, Marchant, Tuilagi, Daly, Ford, Mitchell, Genge, George, Cole, Itoje, Chessum, Lawes, Curry, Earl.

Reserves: Dan, Marler, Stuart, Martin, Ludlam, Care, Smith, Lawrence.

Argentina: Mallia, Boffelli, Cinti, Chocobares, M. Carreras, S. Carreras, Bertranou, Gallo, Montoya, Gomez Kodela, Alemanno, Lavanini, Matera, Kremer, Gonzalez.

Reserves: Creevy, Sclavi, Bello, Petti, Rubiolo, Bruni, Velez, Moroni.