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During November 2024, England fly-half Ford looked disheartened during the match.

He was called upon from the bench to help England close out an historic victory facing the Kiwis, yet missed a crucial penalty and drop-goal as his side lost in a close contest.

In the wake of those pivotal failures, Ford had to work hard to get another shot to bring victory for England.

He saw just 25 minutes of action during this year's Six Nations however a series of strong showings, particularly on the summer tour of Argentina and the United States as Fin Smith and Marcus Smith were absent for Lions team responsibilities, reestablished him strongly in the starting mix.

The 32-year-old fully validated the coach's trust in starting him versus New Zealand, plus the club standout delivered a player-of-the-match performance to assist England to their initial victory against the All Blacks in their own stadium since 2012.

The crucial point came when Ford converted consecutive drop-kicks immediately preceding halftime.

This enabled the English recover from 12-0 down to trail 12-11 by halftime, before Borthwick's star-studded bench again delivered in the second half to help his side to a decisive 33-19 win.

"You have to give credit to the veteran members in our team, notably George," the coach stated. "In that moment when he converted those drop-kicks, he directed play remarkably well.

"One year earlier I thought George came on and played very effectively [facing the Kiwis].

"A kick hit the post while he attempted a difficult drop-goal, but he played really well.

"He's an exceptional captain, an outstanding athlete plus a better human being. We are privileged to feature him in our squad."

Drop-goals 'always in the plan'

The All Blacks began rapidly at Allianz Stadium, building a twelve-point advantage via touchdowns by Fainga'anuku and Taylor.

Subsequent to Ollie Lawrence's powerful finish, Ford's back-to-back drop-kicks resulted in the home side entered the halftime break with the momentum.

"The tough part during those periods is, when the scoreboard says a twelve-point deficit, we must maintain to our strategy and our convictions the optimal approach to play the game is," Ford stated.

"We worked our way back into it and we understood if we started the latter half effectively, with the bench coming on, we would be in a good position.

"Although facing 15 minutes left, we ended up defending our goal line after a penalty, thus we encountered obstacles during that phase also.

"In my opinion that represents international rugby involves - which team can handle in those circumstances the best."

Both kicks occurred within two minutes of each other while the number 10 who successfully converted three drop-goals during a victory facing the Argentine team at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, showed all his century of caps experience.

Ford successfully executed two drop-kicks with Sale in a league contest occurring during tough circumstances versus Bath - this demonstrates a talent he has extensively practiced.

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

"Borthwick represents an incredible coach that he consistently reminding me, and correctly so as three points prove important throughout the match of play."

Ford marshalled his side brilliantly across the pitch the complete contest, making smart decisions - both to compete and identifying openings against the defensive line.

His characteristic high spiral kick also bamboozled the New Zealand player, who couldn't collect.

Having started the English victory against Australia during the autumn series, Ford passed on the fly-half position to the younger Smith for the Fiji victory a week later.

Yet the most significant examination on paper this autumn occurred versus the experienced New Zealand team, and Ford reclaimed his spot.

The national side, now on a run of ten consecutive victories, face Argentina on 23 November and curiosity remains to determine if Borthwick goes back for the younger Smith or continues with Ford.

Whichever decision is made, Ford established with two years remaining from a World Cup that ample opportunity of rugby left for him.