MARSEILLE, France (AP) — The first red card of the Rugby World Cup was issued to England.
No surprise there.
Flanker Tom Curry was sent off on Saturday less than three minutes into the pool match against Argentina in Marseille.
He was too upright tackling Pumas fullback Juan Cruz Mallia, who was coming down from a leaping catch. They collided heads, and referee Mathieu Raynal initially yellow-carded Curry.
But the yellow was upgraded to red after a bunker review because Curry had clear line of sight on Mallia and no mitigation.
Curry became the first England player to be sent off at a men's World Cup, and the fourth England player to be red-carded this year.
“Very unlucky that Cuzza (Curry) got the red early on,” England captain Courtney Lawes said. “(It was) pretty much worst-case scenario. We dug in for Cuzza and we dug in for each other.”
England used Curry's absence as inspiration to beat Argentina 27-10 in a stunning turnaround on form. But Curry is set to appear before a judiciary and faces missing World Cup games.
England's tackling technique has been a bane for coach Steve Borthwick.
Dangerous tackles in the warmup matches landed captain Owen Farrell a four-game ban and No. 8 Billy Vunipola a three-game ban. Both missed the Argentina game. Farrell will miss one more World Cup game, against Japan next Sunday, while Vunipola will be available. In March, Freddie Steward was sent off against Ireland but his red card was downgraded to yellow after the match.
Curry's in trouble after less than three minutes of his first test all year and first under Borthwick.
Curry missed the Six Nations after both hamstrings were injured in separate incidents. A badly twisted left ankle then forced him to miss the World Cup warmups. But he was too valuable to Borthwick to leave at home. Curry helped England reach the 2019 World Cup final and was shortlisted for world player of the year. This was his first game since May.
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AP Rugby World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
