Maro Itoje says England achieved something “special” by beating the All Blacks 33-19 at Twickenham on Saturday.
Victory looked anything but certain when England fell 12-0 behind early on following tries from Leicester Fainga’anuku and Codie Taylor.
But England then scored an impressive 25 unanswered points including two drop goals and a penalty from veteran flyhalf George Ford.
This was just England’s ninth win in 47 Tests against New Zealand spanning 120 years and their first since a dramatic 2019 World Cup semi-final success in Japan.
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“Whenever we play them, there’s always a fight, there’s always a huge challenge and you have to be at the top of your game to get results,” said captain Itoje.
“To be part of this side, to win a game like this here at Twickenham in front of our home fans, it’s special.”
The match was a personal triumph for veteran flyhalf Ford, who in last year’s corresponding fixture saw a late penalty hit the post before skewing a drop goal wide as the All Blacks won 24-22 – one of three narrow defeats England suffered against New Zealand in 2024.
But on Saturday he not only scored 13 points but expertly pulled the strings of England’s attack in open play.
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“George is a brilliant player, an outstanding leader and an even better person,” said England coach Steve Borthwick. “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.”
Borthwick, whose team conclude their November campaign against Argentina next weekend, added: “The most exciting thing I find for this team right now is that we left a load of points out there … That tells me there’s a huge amount of growth in this team because we were playing the No 2 side in the world.”
Defeat ended New Zealand’s bid for a Grand Slam of wins against the home nations ahead of their clash with Wales, who edged Japan 24-23 on Saturday.
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“They just finished a bit more than us,” said All Blacks coach Scott Robertson.
“We had some really good opportunities which we didn’t take, you know 12-0, missed a couple of kicks for the corner and then trying to be brave and put them in there and keep the points and momentum going, didn’t cut them, missed them … we just needed to finish more.”
– AFP
Photo: Warren Little/Getty Images
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