England win 10 on the trot as George Ford is the architect of the All Blacks’ demise in dominant second half showing
Fraser Dingwall celebrates with Marcus Smith after scoring and an inset of George Ford.
England have ended a six-year wait for a victory over the All Blacks, with George Ford scoring 13 of his side’s points in the 33-19 win at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
Not since the 2019 Rugby World Cup semi-final had the English tasted victory over the mighty All Blacks, losing three and drawing one of their last four meetings.
In fact, before today, New Zealand had lost just two of their last 21 matches against England (W18, D1), but they were met by a confident English outfit determined to continue their nine-match winning streak, which they did.
The All Blacks weathered a strong start from the hosts before scoring tries through Leicester Fainga’anuku and Codie Taylor to go 12-0 up. England’s response came through the brilliant Ollie Lawrence and a brace of drop goals from Ford to make it a one-point game.
Tries from Sam Underhill and Fraser Dingwall saw England take control of the second half, and despite a Will Jordan score, the hosts remained calm to end the losing streak against the All Blacks.
Ford racked up his 13th point dissecting the posts from the tee before Tom Roebuck put the finishing touches on a memorable victory.
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Steve Borthwick’s charges started the Test match well, pinning the All Blacks in their own half for much of the opening ten minutes through an excellent kicking via the boots of Freddie Steward, Alex Mitchell and Ford.
However, it was a wayward Ford punt that let New Zealand relieve the pressure, and Scott Robertson’s men quickly marched up the pitch.
While England struggled to find that killer blow, the All Blacks had no such trouble scoring off seemingly their first real opportunity as Billy Proctor went just short before Fainga’anuku finished off the five-pointer. Beauden Barrett’s conversion attempt was wide.
Shortly afterwards scrum-half Cameron Roigard put the All Blacks within striking range with a wonderful 50:22. A slick set move from the lineout saw Jordan sprint into space and deep into the 22 and the ball was quickly whipped back the other way with Quinn Tupaea throwing a peach of a long ball that bounced once before landing into Taylor’s breadbasket and the hooker brilliantly skinned Mitchell before diving over for the try.
Barrett was successful from the tee on this occasion, pushing New Zealand into a 12-0 lead, but that would be reduced before half-time.
Lawrence sparked the fight back, and almost singlehandedly, as the centre ran a short line off the shoulder of Ford before swatting off All Blacks winger Leroy Carter with ease and shrugged off B. Barrett’s tackle attempt before falling onto the line. Ford would miss the conversion but would still have a say before the half-time whistle.
Barrett would twice miss touch with his penalty kicks, and England punished the veteran’s mistakes as Ford dropped into the pocket and slotted a marvellous drop goal. He repeated the feat to make it a one-point game at the break.
Second-half dominance
England came flying out of the blocks in the early knockings of the second half, and the pressure told when Taylor was issued with a somewhat questionable yellow card for hand in a ruck near the halfway line.
That pressure paid off when Mitchell went inches short, but England retained possession and battered it up with the forwards, the last of which was Underhill, who crashed over B. Barrett and the line.
Borthwick’s side looked to have gone even further in front when B. Barrett ripped the ball off Ben Earl and Ford pounced to race through for a try, but that would be chalked off when referee Andrea Piardi was notified by his TMO that England were offside from the preceding lineout.
Ford was central again as he executed a 50:22 and from the ensuing lineout, Lawrence went from scorer to provider running a hard line towards the All Blacks defence and wonderfully disguised his pass to centre partner Dingwall who cantered through to score. That put England into a 13-point lead and prompted the deployment of the POM Squad.
It was then the All Blacks’ chance to apply the pressure, and after a plethora of penalties, Ben Earl was sent to the sin bin. New Zealand struck immediately and through their lethal finisher, Jordan.
From a lineout, he ran a gorgeous line off Damian McKenzie, who replaced B. Barrett after a woeful performance, to run through for his 45th try in the black jersey.
This set the stage for a nail-biting finish with the hosts holding a six-point advantage in the final 15 minutes.
The All Blacks threatened a late comeback as they produced at Murrayfield, but it was not to be as Ford punished an indiscretion from New Zealand’s skipper Scott Barrett before Henry Pollock poked through a loose ball that Roebuck pounced on to extend the lead beyond New Zealand’s reach.
The teams
England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Guy Pepper, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie George, 1 Fin Baxter
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Chandler Cunningham-South, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Marcus Smith
All Blacks: 15 Will Jordan, 14 Leroy Carter, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Quinn Tupaea, 11 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Peter Lakai, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Simon Parker, 5 Josh Lord, 4 Scott Barrett (c), 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Tamaiti Williams, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Sam Darry, 20 Wallace Sititi, 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Damian McKenzie
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
Assistant referees: Luc Ramos (FFR), Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)
FPRO: Mike Adamson (SRU)
READ MORE: England 33-19 All Blacks: As it happened