The secrets behind England’s drop goal success, from warm balls to ‘pressure’ training

In isolation as examples of skill under pressure, and in the context of a pool-opening match that has set an upbeat tone for the next few days if not weeks of England’s World Cup, George Ford’s drop goals in Saturday night’s 27-10 win over Argentina were things of beauty.

Picking off three points by this method is a kind of taboo in rugby; the member of the scoring family no one likes to talk about, maybe only seen at Christmas and funerals or, in this case, at crucial World Cup matches.

It raised a smile from Steve Borthwick, the red-rose head coach, that Jannie de Beer’s infamous five drop goals for South Africa to knock England out of the 1999 World Cup were playing on a TV to one side of the post-match media conference room here in the Marseilles Velodrome.

Others recalled the existing England record of Jonny Wilkinson dinking three drops over to win the 2003 World Cup semi-final against France, in Australia.

Ford, too, was smiling afterwards as the fly-half talked through the anatomy of the tactic that can be so useful when tries are at a premium – which is a kind way of describing England’s still clunky attack.

“Marcus [Smith], Faz [Owen Farrell] and myself, after every session we are doing drop goals,” said Ford.

“We get the nines to pass us the ball, we get some guys to come over and put pressure on us. So we try and make it as realistic as possible. The thing with drop goals is when the opposition least expect it. It is to try and disguise it a little bit then you give yourself a little more time and space, and hopefully try and kick it.

“It is something we have spoken about a tiny bit more, but the whole plan wasn’t about drop goals, it was just about imposing pressure and trying to come away with points in any way we can.”

On the initial evidence, the World Cup ball, which is different to the one used in the domestic Premiership, is flying further. Ford thought the high ambient temperature might be a factor.

With 26 minutes gone, and England holding firm at 3-3 after the horrible early red card to flanker Tom Curry, an Argentinian unforced error of Mateo Carreras’ kick into touch gave a line-out 30 metres out, secured by Maro Itoje, and eventually Ford clipped his right foot through the ball brilliantly, somewhere near the 10-metre line.

Four minutes later he did it again, from even closer to halfway – an effort that would have been prodigious even in a training session.

With a seam thus established and begging to be mined again, on 36 minutes a Pumas penalty became an England line-out caught by Ollie Chessum and Ford hit the target from the comparatively easy territory of the 22.

Maybe one reason drop goals are so rarely seen is they can be energy-sappers not givers, if they miss the spot and the impression is left of desperate measures. Let’s not forget Ford kept punishing Argentina from the tee, too, with six penalties in his personal Test best performance of 27 points.

He said Kevin Sinfield, the England defence coach and rugby league legend who is also a kicking coach to this team, ran on with the tee and “reminders he was giving me, two or three things, that were brilliant in terms of me trying to execute the kick.

“As the game gets on… you get a bit more fatigued and all them things. That’s the life of a kicker sometimes. Some days you can’t hit a barn door, some days you can’t miss.”

We had pondered in these pages weather England’s main men – Itoje, Manu Tuilagi, Jamie George among them – had the capacity to put the very dodgy warm-up results, some played by mix-and-match teams, behind them when it counted in the tournament proper. Marcelo Bosch, the old Puma, had also told us the Argentina set-piece and fly-half Santiago Carreras were vulnerable to being forced off their game.

In 80 minutes of tackle, scrum free-kick and penalty, Argentina fumbles, and points from the boot of Ford, all on repeat, it was mesmerising stuff as it gradually dawned the Pumas – even with a one-man advantage – were nowhere near composed enough to get out of it.

Using Joe Marchant and Tuilagi on the side of the scrum did not hinder England.

There is more than one way to skin a cat, the saying goes, and as for a Puma, this is four wins out of four now by England over Argentina in World Cups. They have out-fought these particular foes in 1995, 2011, 2019 and again on Saturday night.

One England fan summed it up as he walked up the Avenue du Prado to the city centre at long past midnight, grinning at the most attritional game he had ever witnessed while opining it was a style with no chance of beating the top teams in this tournament.

The Duchess of Cambridge was another seen leaving the stadium wearing a contented smile. When the rugby-loving Kate helps out the Rugby Football Union, of which she is patron, with occasional PR shoots, they tend not to ask her to boot the ball up in the air and chase it like a demon. But that is what Borthwick, his coaches and the players have decided is needed here, for the time being at least.

Ford, whose slight frame belies the notion of this sport being all about power, wisely conveyed the not-getting-carried-away piece.

“You know that one performance tonight doesn’t make you the finished article by any stretch of the imagination,” he said.

“We’ll get back to Le Touquet and start our prep Monday night for Japan, who’ll probably offer some different threats. We’ll come up with the best plan to beat them but the critical thing is the last eight, nine, 10 days has taught us is you can have any plan in the world, it’s the lads who bring it to life day in, day out, demand more of each other so you can come to the game at the weekend and execute.”