England rally behind Tom Curry to secure World Cup bronze by beating Argentina
Tom Curry ended a nightmare week with a World Cup bronze medal as England marked his 50th cap with victory in Paris.
Daring to allege he was the victim of a racial slur against South Africa had led the Sale star and his family to be widely abused on social media. But England stood full square behind him and both team and player enjoyed a narrow win over Argentina in a frenetic Third Place Play-off.
“This team wasn’t lacking in motivation today,” said captain Owen Farrell. “It was everywhere you looked, one of them being Tom’s 50th cap.”
Ben Youngs, signing off with his 127th and final cap, added: “We are pleased to end with a win. We wanted to be here tomorrow night [for the final], but it is still a nice win tonight.”
England’s only previous experience of the match nobody wants to play had come in 1995 when Will Carling’s side, broken from their semi-final bulldozing by four-try Jonah Lomu, failed to muster a performance against France.
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This time was different, at least to begin with. Steve Borthwick’s team attacked the game in much the same way they went after justice for Curry and what they perceived as World Rugby’s failure to properly investigate his allegation.
Ben Earl scores England's first try (AFP via Getty Images)It would have been easy to overdo the emotion after Curry had led them out, particularly with it also being Youngs’ last hurrah.
Instead, Ben Earl was put through a hole beautifully by Marcus Smith to score in just the eighth minute and, with Owen Farrell landing three early kicks, England had 13 unanswered points in as many minutes.
It was pretty basic kick-and-chase stuff, however, and a crowd made up largely of neutrals quickly looked to Argentina for their thrills.
Owen Farrell kicks 16 points to become tournament's leading scorer (PA)They were rewarded when the Pumas broke down the wing just before half-time for scrum-half Tomas Cubelli to go over from a ruck.
Quickly after the break they surged in front, Dan missing Gloucester fly-half Santi Carreras who danced through far too easily to score.
It was poor from the hooker but to his great credit he made immediate amends, charging down Carreras from the restart to score under the sticks
Curry tackles Juan Cruz Mallia during England's narrow win (Hugo Pfeiffer/Icon Sport via Getty Images)England could still have blown it after Farrell had landed a shot at goal to become the tournament’s leading scorer.
But Nicolas Sanchez fluffed a penalty chance to force extra time before George Ford, hero of the pool meeting in Marseille, came up with a try-saving tackle on Mateo Carreras to preserve the win.
“They’re not the third best team in this tournament, they know that,” said the watching Lawrence Dallaglio. “But they’ve won a bronze medal so well done to them.”
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England: Smith; Steward, Marchant, Tuilagi (Ford 56), Arundell (Lawrence 66); Farrell (capt), Youngs (Care 50); Genge (Rodd 50), Dan (George 54), Stuart (Cole 50), Itoje, Chessum (Ribbans 70), Curry (Ludlum 50), Underhill, Earl.
Tries: Earl, Dan. Cons: Farrell 2. Pens: Farrell 4.
Argentina: Mallia; Boffelli, Cinti (Moroni 47), de la Fuente, M Carreras; S Carreras (Sanchez 58), Cubelli (Bazan Velez 51); Gallo (Sclavi 66), Montoya (capt, Creevy 56), Kodela (Bello 61), Petti, Rubiolo (Alemanno 66), Gonzalez, Kremer, Isa (Bruni 47).
Tries: Cubelli, S Carreras. Cons: Boffelli 2. Pens: Boffelli 2, Sanchez.
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