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

Ford had been summoned as a substitute to help England close out a famous win against New Zealand, yet missed a decisive kick plus a drop-goal attempt while his team were beaten by two points.

In the wake of those pivotal failures, Ford needed to put in effort to get another shot to bring victory to the English team.

He played only 25 minutes during this year's Six Nations yet multiple excellent displays, especially during the summer matches against Argentina and the USA while Fin Smith and Marcus Smith had departed for British and Irish Lions duty, returned him solidly in the starting mix.

The 32-year-old not only repaid Steve Borthwick's faith through his selection facing the Kiwis, plus the club standout delivered a player-of-the-match performance to assist the hosts to a breakthrough triumph over New Zealand at home for the first time since 2012.

The decisive instant in the game Ford successfully executed consecutive drop-kicks right before half-time.

This enabled the English overcome a 12-0 deficit to trail 12-11 by halftime, ahead of the manager's skilled reserves once more performed after halftime to support England to a convincing 33-19 victory.

"Recognition should be offered to the experienced players on our squad, particularly Ford," Borthwick told. "In that moment as he scored those drop-goals, he controlled the match absolutely brilliantly.

"Twelve months ago I thought George substituted and competed very effectively [versus the All Blacks].

"A attempt hit the upright and he tried a pressured drop-kick, but he played really well.

"He is a phenomenal leader, an outstanding athlete and an even better person. We are honored to include him in our squad."

Drop-goals 'always in the plan'

The Kiwis started quickly during the match, racing into a twelve-point advantage through scores from two key players.

Following Ollie Lawrence's strong try, Ford's consecutive drop-goals resulted in the home side returned to the halftime break with psychological advantage.

"The challenging thing during those periods is, when the scoreboard says a twelve-point deficit, we are able to adhere to our strategy and our philosophy the optimal approach to perform is," Ford said.

"We got ourselves back into contention and we recognized were we to commence the latter half effectively, with substitutes entering, we found ourselves in an advantageous spot.

"Even with a quarter-hour remaining, we ended up near our try line after a penalty, thus we encountered obstacles there as well.

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

Both kicks came within close succession as the fly-half who successfully converted three drop-kicks in a successful match against Argentina during the 2023 World Cup, demonstrated his full international experience.

Ford successfully executed two drop-kicks for Sale during a Premiership match occurring during tough circumstances at Bath - this demonstrates a talent he has mastered thoroughly.

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

"Borthwick represents an outstanding manager that he consistently advising me, and correctly so because three points is valuable during any phase of play."

Ford guided his side brilliantly throughout the match the entire match, executing intelligent kicks - both to compete and locating gaps behind the visitors' backfield.

His trademark high spiral kick also bamboozled Beauden Barrett, who couldn't collect.

After beginning the English victory against Australia in early November, Ford relinquished the fly-half position to the younger Smith for the Fiji victory a week later.

But the biggest test in terms of difficulty came against the three-time world champions, and Ford reclaimed his starting role.

England, presently maintaining ten consecutive victories, play against Argentina in late November and curiosity remains to discover if Borthwick goes back with the alternative or persists with Ford.

Whichever decision is made, Ford established ahead of the next tournament from a World Cup that there is plenty of play remaining in him.