Phenomenal Ford Crucial to Defeating New Zealand

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

Ford had been summoned off the sidelines to support the home side complete an historic victory against New Zealand, however was unable to score a late penalty plus a drop-goal attempt as England lost in a close contest.

Following those costly misses, Ford needed to put in effort to secure another chance to achieve success for England.

He played only 25 minutes in the recent Six Nations but a string of strong showings, particularly on the summer tour against Argentina and the USA while Fin Smith and Marcus Smith had departed for Lions tour commitments, reestablished him strongly as a starting option.

At 32 years old did more than justify Steve Borthwick's faith through his selection facing the Kiwis, plus the club standout achieved a best-player showing to assist England to a breakthrough triumph against the All Blacks in their own stadium for the first time since 2012.

The decisive instant occurred as Ford converted 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 at the break, prior to the coach's talented substitutes again delivered during the final period to assist the team to a decisive 33-19 victory.

"You have to give credit to the senior players in our team, especially George," the coach stated. "That period as he scored those drop-kicks, he controlled the match remarkably well.

"Last year In my view George entered and performed very effectively [versus the All Blacks].

"A attempt hit the upright while he attempted a pressured drop-kick, but he played really well.

"He is a phenomenal leader, a superb performer and an even finer individual. We are privileged to feature him in our squad."

Drop-kicks 'consistently planned'

The All Blacks started quickly in the stadium, surging to a substantial early margin with tries by Leicester Fainga'anuku and Codie Taylor.

Subsequent to Ollie Lawrence's impressive score, Ford's consecutive drop-goals resulted in the home side bounced into the changing rooms with the momentum.

"The difficult aspect at those times is, when the scoreboard says a twelve-point deficit, we can stick to our strategy and our convictions the optimal approach to compete is," Ford explained.

"We worked our way back into it and we recognized should we begin the latter half effectively, with substitutes entering, we would be in a good position.

"Even with fifteen minutes to go, we were positioned near our try line following a card, thus we encountered obstacles in that instance too.

"I believe this illustrates elite competition requires - who can deal in those circumstances the best."

Each effort came within two minutes of each other as the fly-half who executed three drop-kicks during a victory against Argentina in the last global tournament, showed all his century of caps experience.

Ford converted two drop-goals for Sale in a league contest conducted in difficult conditions at Bath - this represents an ability he has mastered thoroughly.

"The drop-kicks form part of our strategy," Ford continued.

"Steve is such an outstanding manager that he is always advising me, and rightly so since three points prove important at any stage of competition."

Ford guided his team superbly around the field the complete contest, making smart decisions - both to compete and in finding space against the defensive line.

His characteristic tactical bomb also bamboozled Beauden Barrett, who couldn't collect.

After beginning the English victory over Australia in early November, Ford handed over the fly-half position to Fin Smith during the Fiji match seven days later.

But the biggest test theoretically this season came against the three-time world champions, and Ford reclaimed his position.

England, currently enjoying 10 straight wins, face Argentina on 23 November and curiosity remains to learn whether the coach returns with the alternative or persists with Ford.

Whichever decision is made, Ford established ahead of the next tournament from a World Cup that ample opportunity of career ahead within him.