What a difference a year makes. 12 months ago, George Ford had been left to collect his thoughts after his drop goal had slipped past the post to leave England condemned to another narrow defeat; this time around, he was collecting the garlands, glory and sponsors’ gong that accompany a performance like his in a famous England win over the All Blacks. Consider the woes of 2024 and the series of near misses – 10 wins on the spin have established Steve Borthwick’s side as an emergent powerhouse of the international game after this signature success.
For Ford, this was a first success on home soil against New Zealand; that his career spans 11-and-a-half years and 104 caps underlines how rarely they come. It is worth reflecting on how his situation has spun since the missed penalty and drop goal that proved costly against the All Blacks last November. Then, he appeared on his way out of the team – two weeks after that near miss, he was an unused replacement in a defeat to the Springboks. By the start of the Six Nations, he was excluded from the matchday squad entirely as Marcus and Fin Smith were given their chances. Three English fly halves were in Australia with the British and Irish Lions in the summer; Ford, surely the finest eligible player yet to be a Lion, was not one of them.
But after leading England most impressively on their concurrent trip to Argentina, Ford has seldom felt so central to the national team. “George is a brilliant player, an outstanding leader and an even better person,” Borthwick said. “I have been privileged to work with him for a period of time.
“I know you like to talk about 12 months ago and the ball hitting a post but he came on 12 months ago and played really well as he always does for England. When he pulls on the England shirt, he is just such a consistent performer. I am pleased for him and all the players, delighted for them.”
This has been a November that shown the best of Ford. Against Australia, with England’s attack not quite clicking on a damp day, he enacted and executed a shift in strategy to turn the screw with the kicking game; against New Zealand, he was better still in controlling tempo and territory. There was a strange sensation for two of his bigger moments as howls of frustration turned quickly to Twickenham roars – he may have eschewed men to his outside for his second half 50:22 but the England supporters soon saw the space in behind that Ford had long since recognised, while his double drop into the pocket and the crisp hoists that followed proved crucial in keeping the home side firmly in touch at the interval.
There were certain similarities to how he steered England out of adversity against Argentina in Marseille at the start of the 2023 World Cup. “If you’ve got a skillset like George Ford has, with Test matches as tight as they are it’s always a factor,” Borthwick explained of the drop goals. “Was it a special part of the plan? No. I trust the 10 to make decisions. I thought he made brilliant decisions and executed perfectly.”
Speak to anyone who has worked with Ford and they will stress just how sharp his rugby brain is – only this week – and a selflessness that has, perhaps, worked against him. Borthwick has articulated just how good a team man Ford was during the Six Nations while out of favour, explaining to the rest of the England squad that it is an example he hopes they follow. He’s had to learn to be happy adjusting to a different role, mind, during a curious career where he has often felt the second fiddle, not necessarily nefariously, to Owen Farrell.
After that Argentina win in Marseille, he looked to have seized the No 10 shirt with his mate suspended, only for Farrell to take it back before the knockout rounds. Even after an excellent hand in England’s last win over the All Blacks, Eddie Jones would later write that he felt he should have changed his midfield balance and dropped Ford for the 2019 World Cup final.
One cannot see Borthwick easily disposing of Ford now. There has been a common assumption that in two years’ time it will be Fin Smith’s team to run from No 10 but, at 32, Ford is playing some of the best rugby of his career. England’s playmaker of the past and present may yet be their fly half of the future, too.