Phenomenal Ford Central to Beating All Blacks

Back in November 2024, England fly-half George Ford looked disheartened on the Allianz Stadium turf.

The replacement was brought on off the sidelines to assist the home side complete a memorable triumph facing the Kiwis, however failed to convert a crucial penalty along with a drop-kick as his side lost in a close contest.

After those expensive errors, Ford had to work hard to get another shot at delivering glory to the English team.

He saw just 25 minutes of action during this year's Six Nations however a series of impressive performances, particularly on the summer matches of Argentina and the United States as Fin Smith and Marcus Smith had departed for Lions team responsibilities, returned him solidly among starting candidates.

The 32-year-old not only repaid the manager's confidence through his selection versus New Zealand, and the Sharks star delivered a player-of-the-match performance to help the hosts to their initial victory over New Zealand in their own stadium ending a drought dating to 2012.

The decisive instant came when Ford successfully executed two drop-goals in succession immediately preceding halftime.

This assisted England bounce back from being down 12-0 to narrow the gap to 12-11 when the half ended, ahead of the manager's skilled reserves again delivered during the final period to help his side to a comfortable 33-19 victory.

"You have to give credit to the senior players within our side, notably George," the coach stated. "During that phase where he hit those drop-kicks, he managed the game remarkably well.

"Twelve months ago I believed Ford came on and played exceptionally well [versus the All Blacks].

"A kick hit the post while he attempted a drop-goal under pressure, however his play was outstanding.

"He's a tremendous guide, an outstanding athlete plus a better human being. We are fortunate to include him on our team."

Drop-goals 'part of the strategy'

New Zealand commenced strongly in the stadium, racing into a twelve-point advantage with tries by Leicester Fainga'anuku and Codie Taylor.

After Lawrence's strong try, the fly-half's successive drop-kicks ensured England entered the changing rooms with psychological advantage.

"The tough part in those moments comes when the board shows twelve to zero, we can stick to our guns and what we believe the optimal approach to compete is," Ford said.

"We got ourselves back into it and we recognized should we begin the final period strongly, as reserves joined, we found ourselves in a favorable situation.

"Even with fifteen minutes to go, we found ourselves near our try line after a penalty, meaning we faced difficulties in that instance too.

"In my opinion that represents international rugby involves - who can deal in those circumstances superiorly."

Each effort happened within two minutes of each other as the fly-half who successfully converted three crucial kicks in a win facing the Argentine team at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, displayed his complete 104-cap experience.

Ford converted two drop-kicks for Sale in a league contest conducted in challenging weather at Bath - this demonstrates a talent he has mastered thoroughly.

"It [the drop-goals] is always in the plan," Ford added.

"Borthwick represents an outstanding manager that he is always reminding me, and appropriately since three points is valuable throughout the match of the game."

Ford marshalled his team superbly throughout the match all game, making smart decisions - both to compete and in finding space behind the visitors' backfield.

His signature 'spiral bomb' additionally troubled the opposing fullback, who mishandled the ball.

Having started England's win over Australia on 1 November, Ford relinquished the number 10 jersey to the younger Smith against Fiji the following week.

Yet the most significant examination in terms of difficulty came against the multiple World Cup winners, so Ford returned to his spot.

The English team, now on a run of ten consecutive victories, meet Argentina this month and it will be interesting to determine if Borthwick goes back with the alternative or persists with Ford.

Whatever choice occurs, Ford demonstrated ahead of the next tournament before the World Cup that there is plenty of career ahead within him.