14-men England cast off a dismal run of form to claim a comprehensive 27-10 victory over Argentina in their Pool D opening match of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France on Sunday.
In a dramatic opening 10 minutes, French referee Mathieu Raynal was forced to use TMO to help rule on two dubious tackles.
He first handed England flanker Tom Curry a yellow card in just the third minute following a clumsy clash of heads with Argentine full-back Juan Cruz Mallia, but that was eventually upgraded to red.
The incident saw Argentina receive a penalty and Emiliano Boffelli slotted the ball for a 3-nil lead in the fourth minute before missing his second three minutes later.
Argentina was also reduced to 14 players when Santiago Carreras was sin-binned for a professional foul on George Ford in the ninth minute.
This rewarded England a penalty which Ford kicked to lock the scores at 3-3 in the 10th minute.
After another 10 minutes of arm wrestling on the field, Ford landed three drop goals to give England a 12-3 lead at half time.
England continued its dominance in the second stanza as Ford continued kicking four penalties and again booted a drop goal.
Argentina somehow regrouped and managed to score a later try through Rodrigo Bruni which Boffelli.
England plays Japan on 17 while Argentina will face Samoa on 18.
