In the spirit of Jannie de Beer and Jonny Wilkinson, George Ford became the first player to slot a drop goal in the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Ford took matters into his own hands, rather his foot, as he guided England to a 12-3 lead.

The fly-half stepped up to the mark following the red card to Tom Curry in the first two minutes of their first Rugby World Cup match against Argentina.

Following Curry’s yellow card, which the Foul Play Review Bunker upgraded to a red, Los Pumas took the lead through a penalty from Emiliano Boffelli.

The Pumas full-back missed his next shot, and Ford levelled the scores with a penalty in the 10th minute.

But from then on, Ford took control of the match, knocking over his first drop goal from behind the Argentina 10-metre line.

Ford replicated that effort just three minutes later as he again dropped into the pocket with England struggling to get over the advantage line.

Again, he struck the ball wonderfully, and the ball sailed through the posts.

The 30-year-old made it a hat-trick of drop goals as England lined him up perfectly inside the Argentina 22.

His kicks gave Steve Borthwick’s side a 12-3 lead at half-time.

Most drop goals in World Cup match

Ford’s first-half heroics saw him equal Jonny Wilkinson’s record for three drop goals in a Rugby World Cup match.

The legendary fly-half slotted three drop goals in the 2003 World Cup clash against France.

He also equalled the efforts of Argentina’s Juan Martin Hernandez against Ireland in 2007 and Namibia’s Theuns Kotze against Fiji in 2011.

Ford now has the opportunity to break South Africa’s Jannie de Beer’s record of five drop goals in a World Cup match.

De Beer famously knocked over five drop goals during the 1999 Rugby World Cup quarter-final against England, steering his side to a 44-21 victory.

READ MORE: All-time Rugby World Cup player stats: Tries, carries, tackles and much more

The article WATCH: George Ford rockets over THREE drop goals in World Cup opener appeared first on Planetrugby.com.