George Ford marks milestone by leading England to victory in Argentina

The Guardian

2 days ago

George Ford marked his 100th cap in style as he kicked 15 points to steer England to a highly impressive 35-12 victory over Argentina in the opening game of their two-Test series. In front of a partisan full house at the Estadio Uno in La Plata, an hour's drive south of Buenos Aires, the century maker displayed his customary calm to steer the tourists through troubled waters early on.
England were reduced to 13 when losing two players to the sin-bin before half-time, yet somehow made it to the interval ahead thanks to Ford's drop goal. From there they were the only team in the contest. In a remarkable transformation Steve Borthwick's team bagged four second-half tries, three in seven minutes between the 42nd and 49th minute.
Tom Roebuck claimed two tries and Freddie Steward added a third, before Cadan Murley came off the bench to seal the deal late on.
'It is all about the team as always,' said Ford, deflecting praise away from his own milestone achievement. 'We understand how difficult it is here in Argentina so it is a great win for us. We were under pressure in the first half; we gave away too many penalties and could not get out of our half. We had to make sure second half we got out of our half and create some try-scoring opportunities, which we did.
'We have to back it up next week and we know Argentina will come back at us. Another challenge that we will look forward to.'
Argentina Elizalde (Roger 61); Isgro, Cinti, Piccardo, Cordero (Moroni 62); Carreras, Bertranou (Benítez Cruz 49); Vivas (Gallo 45), Montoya (capt; Bernasconi 72), Delgado (Coria Marchetti 45), Paulos (Grondona 54), Rubiolo, Matera, González, Isa (Moro 49). Tries Matera, Rubiolo. Con Carreras.
England Steward; Roebuck, Slade, Atkinson, Muir (Atkinson 71); Ford (co-capt), B Spencer (Van Poortvliet 57); Baxter (Rodd 57), George (co-capt; Dan 76), Heyes (Opoku-Fordjour 57), Ewels (Cunningham-South 49), Coles, B Curry, Underhill (Pepper 61); Willis (Dombrandt 61). Sin-bin Coles 16-26, Atkinson 21-31. Tries: Roebuck 2, Steward, Murley. Cons Ford 3. Pens Ford 2. Drop goal Ford.
Ford came into the game inspired by messages from Frank Lampard, John Terry and the former prime minister Tony Blair, a fly-half during his school days at Fettes College. The trio sent video tributes, along with adventurer Bear Grylls, cricket stars Freddie Flintoff and Joe Root.
He, himself, insisted it was 'just another day at the office' but it did not feel that way as Alex Coles and Seb Atkinson were sent to the sin bin repelling Argentina's early charge.
The match could easily have got away from England at that stage given they were blooding three new caps in Atkinson, Will Muir and Guy Pepper. Instead Borthwick's charges displayed a steely resolve.
Time and again Argentina were held up over the try line, first by the prop Joe Heyes, then a combined effort of Jamie George, Tom Willis and Atkinson, then again by George and Sam Underhill.
There were shades of the 2023 World Cup meeting of the nations in Marseille where England had Tom Curry sent off after three minutes but outworked the South Americans to claim a famous victory on the back of Ford's 27-point masterclass.
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It was perhaps no coincidence the Sale fly-half, who had kicked a first half hat-trick of drop goals that night in France, landed one here to get England into this contest. It allowed them to lead at half-time, from where they took the game away from their hosts in hugely impressive fashion.
Within two minutes Roebuck had his first, put over in the corner by Ford and Steward. Five minutes later Ford was at it again, zinging a pass to Steward for the second. Before the Pumas could get their head round what was happening, Roebuck helped himself to his second from a Heyes pass.
Stung into a response, Argentina finally found a cutting edge. Pablo Matera pulled a try back, from Santiago Carreras' cross kick, and soon after Pedro Rubiolo added a second.
A fortnight ago an England team very similar to this blew a 12-point lead to lose to France at Twickenham in the final five minutes of their non-cap international.
For a moment it seemed the Pumas had the wind in their sails and could inflict further damage. But Ford stepped up, put a calm hand on the tiller, and guided England away from danger.
Two penalties, the conversion of Murley's late try, and the match was won. It is only half-time in the series, but given Borthwick had billed Argentina as 'heavy favourites', this was a statement win of which England can feel rightly proud.