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Back in November 2024, England fly-half George Ford appeared disappointed during the match.

The replacement was brought on as a substitute to help England close out a memorable triumph facing the Kiwis, but instead missed a crucial penalty along with a drop-kick while his team were beaten by a narrow margin.

In the wake of those pivotal failures, Ford needed to put in effort to secure another chance to bring victory for the national side.

His playing time was limited to 25 minutes in the recent Six Nations but a string of strong showings, especially during the summer matches of Argentina and the United States as Fin Smith and Marcus Smith were absent for Lions team responsibilities, put him firmly back in the starting mix.

The 32-year-old did more than justify the coach's trust in starting him versus New Zealand, plus the club standout delivered a player-of-the-match performance to help the hosts to a breakthrough triumph versus the Kiwis on home soil for the first time since 2012.

The pivotal moment in the game Ford converted consecutive drop-kicks immediately preceding halftime.

This enabled the English overcome a 12-0 deficit to narrow the gap to 12-11 when the half ended, prior to the coach's talented substitutes again delivered during the final period to help his side to a comfortable 33-19 win.

"Credit must be given to the experienced players on our squad, notably George," the coach stated. "That period where he hit those drop-goals, he directed play remarkably well.

"One year earlier I thought George substituted and competed exceptionally well [facing the Kiwis].

"One kick struck the post and he had a pressured drop-kick, but he played really well.

"He's a tremendous guide, an outstanding athlete and an even better person. We are privileged to include him on our team."

Drop-kicks 'consistently planned'

New Zealand began rapidly in the stadium, racing into a 12-point lead via touchdowns by Fainga'anuku and Taylor.

Following Ollie Lawrence's impressive score, the fly-half's successive three-pointers meant the hosts entered the halftime break with psychological advantage.

"The difficult aspect at those times is, when the scoreboard says a twelve-point deficit, we must maintain to our plan and our convictions the superior method to compete is," Ford said.

"We worked our way back into contention and we understood were we to commence the second half well, with the bench coming on, we were in a favorable situation.

"Even with a quarter-hour remaining, we ended up defending our goal line following a card, meaning we faced difficulties there as well.

"I believe this illustrates elite competition requires - which team can handle during those situations superiorly."

Each effort happened within two minutes of each other while the number 10 who successfully converted three crucial kicks during a victory against Argentina at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, demonstrated his full century of caps experience.

Ford converted two drop-goals for Sale in a league contest occurring during challenging weather at Bath - this represents an ability he has extensively practiced.

"The drop-kicks are consistently planned," Ford stated further.

"Borthwick represents an incredible coach that he consistently advising me, and rightly so because three points are crucial throughout the match of competition."

Ford guided his side brilliantly across the pitch the entire match, executing intelligent kicks - both to compete and in finding space behind the visitors' backfield.

His characteristic 'spiral bomb' additionally troubled the opposing fullback, who mishandled the ball.

Having started the national team's triumph against Australia in early November, Ford handed over the number 10 jersey to his replacement for the Fiji victory a week later.

However the greatest challenge theoretically this season occurred versus the experienced New Zealand team, and Ford reclaimed his starting role.

England, now on a run of an unbeaten streak of ten, face Argentina in late November and curiosity remains to discover whether the coach returns with the alternative or persists with Ford.

Regardless of the selection, Ford proved two years away prior to global competition that ample opportunity of play remaining within him.