Steve Borthwick outlines George Ford’s key qualities as he leads England to win

George Ford was acclaimed by head coach Steve Borthwick after England’s matchwinner sent New Zealand crashing to a 33-19 defeat at Allianz Stadium.

England registered their first victory over the All Blacks at Twickenham since 2012 with Ford directing operations in a man-of-the-match performance 12 months after he struggled in the same fixture.

The Sale fly-half missed a late penalty and drop-goal that would have sealed New Zealand’s fate in 2024, but on this occasion he finished with a 13-point haul and provided the generalship his team needed.

“George is a brilliant player, an outstanding leader and an even better person. I have been privileged to work with him for a period of time,” Borthwick said.

“I know you like to talk about 12 months ago and the ball hitting a post, but he came on 12 months ago and played really well as he always does for England. When he pulls on the England shirt he is just such a consistent performer.”

Ollie Lawrence, Sam Underhill, Fraser Dingwall and Tom Roebuck ran in tries as England posted their 10th successive Test victory and the standout win of the Borthwick era.

“The most exciting thing I find for this team right now is that we left a load of points out there. There were loads of chances we didn’t take,” Borthwick said.

“We got held up over the goal line and there were a couple of knock-ons in the 22 when it looked like we were about to score.

“That tells me there’s a huge amount of growth in this team because we were playing the number two side in the world.

“We’ll enjoy this, it’s another great memory that the players have made and then we’ll go on to next Sunday and try and make another memory against Argentina.”

England meant business from the moment they accepted the challenge of the haka by standing in a V formation, evoking memories of the nations’ clash in the 2019 World Cup semi-finals.

Six years ago they fanned out in a similar fashion to confront the Maori war dance and duly went on to demolish the All Blacks 19-7.

“As a group of leaders we came up with what you guys saw. I guess it was just our response to what they did,” captain Maro Itoje said.

“We were trying to achieve the same thing they were tying to achieve. The haka is a war dance they do to get themselves up for the game. I know it has a huge spiritual meaning to New Zealand.

“Our response was just to show ourselves, the team and the Allianz Stadium that we’re ready for the challenge.”

The loss means New Zealand’s ambition of completing a grand slam of the home unions on their northern hemisphere tour is over.

“The Grand Slam was a goal we set a few weeks ago but England pulled the rug from under us. It is hugely disappointing but we will have to bounce back,” captain Scott Barrett said.

“England were pretty efficient when they get into our half in coming away with points. George Ford was pretty accurate with his drop goals and keeping that scoreboard ticking over.”