It is true that large parts of rugby have now become a high-kicking contest resembling Australian Rules \u2013 and that is somewhere no sport really wants to go. But the immaculate halfbacks were there to do a job, and they did it superbly.<\/p>\n
And the All Blacks? Their jerseys were all black but too many of them did not play like All Blacks<\/a>. They had pedigree attackers in Will Jordan and the regal Quinn Tupaea, but far too many of their forwards were journeymen. Even their captain, Scott Barrett, is only a trier. Colin Meads or Sam Whitelock he is emphatically not.<\/p>\n It is true to say that teams only play as well as the opposition allow. But this was a disappointing New Zealand team and no doubt they will undergo the ritual roasting on their return home, whereas England will go bouncing on in fine fettle.<\/p>\n They made a big play of not starting their best front row, but would bring them on as replacements; they have discussed playing other players out of position. Frankly, some of it smacked of overthinking and overtraining and, for me, neither of their philosophies was a factor. They were just better as a team, more powerful, they had more intensity and they had a pleasing attacking edge.<\/p>\n England \u2018looked tactically smarter\u2019 than All Blacks<\/p>\n Gavin Mairs, Daily Telegraph<\/p>\n Glorious redemption for George Ford, glorious redemption for England. The agony of the last-gasp defeat a year ago by the All Blacks has been banished in imperious fashion as Steve Borthwick\u2019s side finally have their statement victory to underscore their progress this year.<\/p>\n Appropriately it was left to Ford to land the coup de grace, landing a penalty in the 76th minute to take England\u2019s lead beyond two scores, before a late try by Tom Roebuck, with New Zealand ragged, sealed the stunning victory, England\u2019s first against the All Blacks at Twickenham since 2012.<\/p>\n A year ago in this fixture, a missed drop goal in the final minute by Ford cost England the chance of sealing a dramatic win, continuing a trend of near misses by Borthwick\u2019s side.<\/p>\n But how Ford made up for that miss, knocking over two perfectly struck drop goals at the end of the first half to bring England back into the game after they had trailed 12-0 following tries by Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku and Codie Taylor.<\/p>\n His game control was immense, peppering the New Zealand back three with spiral bombs and landing a sublime 50:22 kick in the build-up to a try by Fraser Dingwall which put England 25-12 in front before Borthwick had even had the chance to unleash his \u201cPom squad\u201d.<\/p>\n It was far from the complete performance by England, and they will have been frustrated that they allowed New Zealand a way back into the game when Will Jordan crossed to bring them within a score before Ford\u2019s decisive kick.<\/p>\n But there was so much to admire about this England side. Marcus Smith had a huge impact as a first-half replacement for Freddie Steward. Ollie Lawrence, who crossed for England\u2019s first try, was also superb.<\/p>\n