'I’ve been fortunate enough to beat New Zealand a few times as well'

George Ford and Maro Itoje have demanded England continue producing statement wins by building on Saturday’s crushing 33-19 victory over New Zealand.

England toppled the All Blacks at Twickenham for the first time in 13 years and will close out their autumn against Argentina on Sunday, when they will be gunning for an 11th consecutive triumph.

Head coach Steve Borthwick has confirmed British and Irish Lions second row Ollie Chessum has lost his race to recover from a foot injury and will miss the Pumas collision.

England will climb to third place when the updated world rankings are released on Monday and for Ford, the architect of New Zealand’s downfall, it must not be a one-off.

“The last time we beat New Zealand at Twickenham was in 2012, which is a long time ago. If you look at it in that context, then this is a big result,” said Ford, who was named man of the match.

“We just wanted to make sure that we get our preparation right and we attack it. And we felt that if we did that, then we could have a good chance of getting the result.

“That’s just where we’re at as a team at the minute and we don’t want it to be a flash in the pan. It’s just trying to constantly improve, week on week.

“Whoever the opposition is, we want to try and do a job on them. And it’ll be the same with Argentina next weekend.”

The message of ensuring the success over the All Blacks is the beginning and not the end was echoed by captain Itoje as he celebrated only his second England win against the heavyweights.

“I’ve played them a number of times and I’ve been fortunate enough to beat them a few times as well. It’s always tough,” said Itoje, who faced the All Blacks with the Lions in 2017.

“New Zealand are a great team and they have a great rugby history. I was reminded during the week that there were only eight England teams before us to have beaten them.

“We want that number to grow. We’re happy to be number nine, but we don’t want to wait another six years for the number 10 to come. Hopefully we can keep building as a team.”

Borthwick felt the victory would have been even more conclusive had England finished their chances in the first half, although they still crossed four times to justify their position as pre-match favourites with bookmakers.

It was an all-action performance to set minds racing over what could be achieved at the 2027 World Cup and while Borthwick has called for perspective, he sees a bright future.

The head coach said: “If the players continue to strive to develop, remain ambitious with their dreams and continue to train at the level they do, then I think there’s a huge amount of growth in them.”