🔗 Share this article

In November 2024, national team playmaker Ford looked disheartened on the Allianz Stadium turf.

Ford had been summoned from the bench to assist the home side close out a famous win against New Zealand, but instead failed to convert a crucial penalty plus a drop-goal attempt as his side were beaten by a narrow margin.

After those expensive errors, Ford needed to put in effort to earn another opportunity to bring victory for the national side.

He saw just 25 minutes of action throughout the Six Nations tournament however a series of strong showings, particularly on the summer tour against Argentina and the USA while Fin Smith and Marcus Smith were absent for Lions team responsibilities, put him firmly back among starting candidates.

The 32-year-old not only repaid the manager's confidence in starting him versus New Zealand, plus the club standout delivered a player-of-the-match performance to support England to their initial victory versus the Kiwis at home since 2012.

The decisive instant came when Ford converted back-to-back drop-goals immediately preceding halftime.

It helped England recover from 12-0 down to trail 12-11 at the break, ahead of the manager's skilled reserves repeatedly excelled in the second half to support England to a comfortable 33-19 win.

"Credit must be given to the veteran members on our squad, especially George," the coach stated. "In that moment when he converted those drop-kicks, he managed the game remarkably well.

"Twelve months ago I thought George came on and played really well [versus the All Blacks].

"A kick hit the post and he tried a pressured drop-kick, yet he performed excellently.

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

Drop-goals 'always in the plan'

New Zealand began rapidly at Allianz Stadium, racing into a 12-point lead via touchdowns by Fainga'anuku and Taylor.

After Lawrence's powerful finish, Ford's consecutive three-pointers resulted in the home side bounced into the halftime break with psychological advantage.

"The tough part at those times is, when the scoreboard says a twelve-point deficit, we must maintain to our strategy and what we believe the optimal approach to perform is," Ford said.

"We fought our way back into it and we recognized if we started the second half well, with the bench coming on, we found ourselves in a good position.

"Although facing a quarter-hour remaining, we ended up defending our goal line following a card, meaning we faced difficulties during that phase also.

"I believe this illustrates international rugby involves - who manages best during those situations most effectively."

The two attempts happened within two minutes of each other as Ford who successfully converted three drop-kicks in a successful match versus Argentina at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, showed all his 104-cap experience.

Ford hit two three-pointers representing Sale in a league contest conducted in challenging weather versus Bath - this demonstrates a talent he is well-practised in.

"It [the drop-goals] are consistently planned," Ford added.

"Borthwick represents an outstanding manager that he consistently in my ear about it, and correctly so since three points is valuable throughout the match of competition."

Ford directed his team superbly across the pitch the entire match, executing intelligent kicks - both to compete and locating gaps against the defensive line.

His trademark high spiral kick additionally troubled Beauden Barrett, who failed to regather.

Following his start in the national team's triumph over Australia in early November, Ford passed on the starting role to the younger Smith against Fiji seven days later.

But the biggest test theoretically this season occurred versus the three-time world champions, so Ford returned to his spot.

England, now on a run of 10 straight wins, play against Argentina on 23 November and it will be interesting to learn if the manager opts for the younger Smith or maintains Ford.

Whichever decision is made, Ford demonstrated with two years remaining from a World Cup that significant amounts of rugby left for him.