'Atmosphere was incredible': Ford on victory over All Blacks at Twickenham

Just over 48 hours after beating the All Blacks at Twickenham 33-19, the game’s man of the match George Ford has revealed what it was like during the preparation for the penalty kick to put the game without reach of Scott Robertson’s side.

Steve Borthwick’s England side came out of the changing sheds all guns blazing, and gained significant momentum when Codie Taylor cynically played the ball in a ruck in the 41st minute.

Sam Underhill was the first to cross during this momentum shift in the 43rd minute, before English midfielder Fraser Dingwall received a brilliant short ball to put him through a huge hole in the All Blacks defence to extend the lead to 13.

Ford, who earlier on in the encounter nailed two drop goals, spoke on For The Love Of Rugby Podcast about how he was feeling ahead of the kick from just inside the All Blacks’ half, a year after missing a drop-goal against the same side.

“Sport, it can be fickle sometimes, can’t it because, some days you go out there and you have the best intentions and you don’t execute. But the response, or the reaction is a certain way for the days you go out, then you do execute, and you win, and it’s all good,” Ford said on the podcast.

“So then the responses is a different way, and that’s why you have a small group of people around you. You really trust their advice and support when, 12 months ago, you miss a kick and a drop goal and you lose to New Zealand at home, they’re also there for you yesterday, but there’s a lot more people there for you yesterday as well, and that’s the difference.”

Ford adds that one of the more pleasing things about the performance was how his side reacted to going down 12-0 early on in the game, and then the impact from the bench in the second half.

“I suppose the satisfying thing from yesterday is just like the nature of the game as well. Like being 12-0 down at home to New Zealand, when we actually thought we started the game quite well, but the scoreboard didn’t suggest that, and then how we just managed to get ourselves back into it 12-11, at half time,” Ford explained.

“Like in them moments the scoreboards putting a bit of pressure on you, and sometimes the easy thing to do is to go and chase it and I thought that the most impressive thing from the boys was that we slowly but surely built our way back into the game to make sure that there was only one point in their half time, which I thought was a big result for us.

Borthwick and England also got some effective impact off the bench, with young duo Henry Pollock and Marcus Smith helping them storm home against the Kiwi outfit.

“We knew that that would probably gather a bit momentum for the second half and then we had our bench coming on, who’s been brilliant all campaign. So the feeling was good, and that’s why I mentioned them things, because it’s such a 23 man effort.

“Even the lads who were unfortunate enough not to play there, the way they’ve been in the week has been incredible. So when you have a good win, and everyone’s in a good mood, you can relax for a couple of hours after the game with the lads, after a pretty intense week.”