England 33-19 New Zealand
By David Nicholson
at Twickenham

ENGLAND took a thrilling step forward at the weekend as they won in the most convincing manner at Twickenham against the All Blacks.

This is the first time England have defeated New Zealand since that remarkable World Cup semi-final victory in Yokohama in 2019.

Coach Steve Borthwick’s men have now won 10 games on the trot and have that invaluable confidence that winning momentum brings.

Despite the home side having to claw back an opening 20-minute 12-point deficit, they did not panic as New Zealand showed why they are the world’s second-ranked side.

Man-of-the-match George Ford managed to score in every conceivable way as he scored a fine try, kicked two drop goals, two conversions and a penalty.

This was redemption for Ford after his missed penalty and drop goal in the closing minutes of last autumn’s fixture against the All Blacks cost his side the victory.

“We went 12-0 down and came back well. We became a bit inaccurate so we had to work a few things out and the boys did that really well,” fly-half Ford said.

“We are big on trying to be calm and composed and give the right messages to the lads. We stuck to our plan and managed to go in at half-time 11-12.

“The drop-goals were always part of the plan. You want to come away with something, and a drop-goal was the best way to do it,” Ford said.

England scrum-half Alex Mitchel said: “To have someone like George Ford outside me makes the job so easy.

“He’s the best in the world at the drop-goal game. It’s been fantastic to play alongside that today,” Mitchell said.

A greasy ball brought mistakes from both sides as handling errors and knock-ons interrupted the game’s flow.

But make no mistake, England defended well and took their chances in attack, scoring four tries and will now be a side to be feared by every country.

Borthwick’s tactical substitutions worked again, with his so-called Pom squad breaking All Black hearts.

England’s head coach said he took a lot of positives from the game and his side could be proud of their composure.

“It’s been a while since we beat New Zealand at home, and I hope our supporters enjoy themselves tonight.

“The most exciting thing about this team is the amount of points we left out there after some handling errors when we were in scoring positions,” Borthwick said.

England faced down the Haka at the start of the game, with the players moving forward into a semicircle facing the All Black’s war dance.

Henry Pollock again made a massive contribution and must be a contention for a starting position next week against Argentina.

The 20-year-old flanker is fearless, and almost broke through himself for a try after Ellis Genge burst through the men in black, but Pollock knocked on as the try line beckoned.

But the youngster made amends when a skilful bit of football broke the All Black defence and winger Tom Roebuck scored an opportunist try.

New Zealand coach Scott Robertson congratulated the home side, but said his men did not take their opportunities.

“We thought at 11-12 at half-time, if we came out and scored early, it would make England have to chase the game.

“We have to work on pressurising teams to keep our momentum, but the yellow card for Peter Lakai cost us,” Robertson said.

All Black skipper Scott Barrett said: “We’ll focus on Wales next weekend now and try to finish our tour strongly.”