George Ford kicked everything, including three first-half drop goals, to give 14-man England a pressure-relieving 27-10 win over Argentina at the Rugby World Cup on Saturday.

Written off ahead of the tournament and down a man from the opening minutes after flanker Tom Curry’s head clash with Juan Cruz Mallia resulted in a red card, England took nearly every chance that came its way from a sloppy Argentina to start Pool D with a big win that no one saw coming.

Ford kicked his drop goals in the space of eight minutes near the end of the half, taking England from 3-3 to 12-3 ahead in the blink of an eye. The flyhalf, who is standing in for suspended captain Owen Farrell, also landed six penalties for a flawless night with his right boot.

He had all of England’s points.

England even bossed the set-piece despite being a man down in Marseille, as Argentina’s errors and penalty count gave it no chance to fight back in a game many thought the Pumas were favourites to win.

Argentina replacement Rodrigo Bruni scored the only try of the game in the last minute when it was already over.

Curry became the first player to receive a red card at the Rugby World Cup via the new bunker review system after his head smashed into Mallia’s as the Argentina fullback came down to ground after catching a high kick. Curry was initially shown a yellow card by referee Mathieu Raynal but the tackle was put on review. The yellow was upgraded to red by TMO Marius Jonker, meaning Curry played no more part and his first game back since May because of injury lasted barely three minutes.

England came alive under the pressure, and coach Steve Borthwick was smiling broadly near the end, a rare picture lately after England lost six out of nine games, including to underdog Fiji, for one of its worst runs of form heading to the World Cup.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, also had a big smile and a wave for the fans from her seat at Stade Velodrome.