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During November 2024, England fly-half Ford cut a dejected figure on the Allianz Stadium turf.

The replacement was brought on off the sidelines to support the hosts complete a famous win against New Zealand, however failed to convert a late penalty plus a drop-goal attempt as England were beaten by a narrow margin.

In the wake of those pivotal failures, Ford had to work hard to get another shot at delivering glory to the English team.

He played only 25 minutes in the recent Six Nations however a series of impressive performances, particularly on the summer matches of Argentina and the United States when the Smith players were away on Lions tour commitments, reestablished him strongly in the starting mix.

The 32-year-old did more than justify Steve Borthwick's faith in starting him against the All Blacks, and the Sharks star delivered a player-of-the-match performance to support the home team to a first win versus the Kiwis in their own stadium since 2012.

The crucial point occurred as Ford nailed back-to-back drop-goals immediately preceding halftime.

It helped England bounce back from being down 12-0 to reduce the margin to 12-11 by halftime, ahead of the manager's skilled reserves repeatedly excelled during the final period to assist the team to a convincing 33-19 victory.

"Recognition should be offered to the senior players in our team, especially George," Borthwick told. "During that phase where he hit those drop-goals, he managed the game absolutely brilliantly.

"Last year I thought George entered and performed very effectively [against New Zealand].

"One kick struck the post and he had a drop-goal under pressure, yet he performed excellently.

"He's an exceptional captain, an outstanding athlete and an even better person. We are privileged to include him within our roster."

Drop-goals 'part of the strategy'

The All Blacks started quickly in the stadium, building a twelve-point advantage via touchdowns by Fainga'anuku and Taylor.

After Lawrence's impressive score, Ford's consecutive drop-kicks ensured England returned to the locker room with psychological advantage.

"The challenging thing in those moments comes when the board shows a twelve-point deficit, we can stick to our plan and our philosophy the optimal approach to perform is," Ford stated.

"We worked our way back into it and we knew if we started the latter half effectively, with substitutes entering, we found ourselves in a good position.

"Despite having fifteen minutes to go, we ended up defending our goal line following a card, so we had challenges there as well.

"I believe this illustrates international rugby involves - who can deal during those situations superiorly."

The two attempts occurred within two minutes of each other as Ford who nailed three drop-kicks during a victory against Argentina in the last global tournament, showed all his century of caps experience.

Ford hit two drop-kicks representing Sale during a Premiership match conducted in difficult conditions against Bath - this demonstrates a talent he has mastered thoroughly.

"The drop-kicks are consistently planned," Ford continued.

"Steve is such a phenomenal leader since he continually in my ear about it, and rightly so as three points is valuable throughout the match of the game."

Ford marshalled England excellently throughout the match all game, executing intelligent kicks - for both attacking and defensive purposes and identifying openings in the opposition's territory.

His trademark tactical bomb further confused the New Zealand player, who failed to regather.

Having started England's win over Australia during the autumn series, Ford handed over the fly-half position to the younger Smith against Fiji a week later.

But the biggest test theoretically this season was presented by the experienced New Zealand team, so Ford returned to his starting role.

England, currently enjoying 10 straight wins, meet Argentina in late November and it will be interesting to learn if the manager opts to Fin Smith or maintains Ford.

Whichever decision is made, Ford proved ahead of the next tournament from a World Cup that significant amounts of rugby left for him.