Steve Borthwick has paid tribute to the perseverance and character of George Ford after England’s impressive 33-18 victory over the All Blacks. Twelve months ago, Ford narrowly failed to clinch a home victory in this same fixture, but he was a pivotal figure on Saturday as his side gained their revenge with a first win over New Zealand in south-west London since 2012.
“George is a brilliant player, an outstanding leader and an even better person,” the head coach said after the fly-half contributed 13 points to seal his team’s 10th successive Test win this year. “I know you like to talk about 12 months ago and the ball hitting a post. But when he pulls on the England shirt he is just such a consistent performer.
“He made brilliant decisions and executed perfectly. I am pleased for him and all the players. They should enjoy themselves tonight and have a good night out.”
Ford’s all-round tactical assurance and calm were exemplified by the two first-half drop goals that shifted the momentum of the contest after the All Blacks had taken an early 12-0 lead. “It was always part of the plan,” Ford said. “You want to come away with something when you get to that end of the pitch. Sometimes the drop goal is the way to go … it’s important to get rewards for the work the forwards are doing.”
Ford and Borthwick were also heartened by England’s assurance in the final quarter as they pulled away to record a ninth win against New Zealand in the long history of the fixture. Borthwick believes his team have further improvement in them and also highlighted Maro Itoje’s eve-of-game captain’s speech.
“I heard him address the team this morning,” said Borthwick. “He talked about when the team were 14- or 15-year-old boys, dreaming of playing for England and playing here against teams like New Zealand. He asked the players to go out and play with that intent of a 14 or 15-year-old with a dream. The boys took those dreams on to the pitch today and they were outstanding.
“We know [an improved world] ranking helps, but this isn’t about that. This is about trying to achieve special moments and special memories and today is one of them. Hopefully, there’s a load of young future rugby players watching around the country who want to wear the white shirt and get great victories.”
Itoje said England had been keen to make a statement even before the game kicked off by standing up to the haka. “As a group of leaders we came up with what you guys saw. We were trying to achieve the same thing they were trying to achieve.
“The haka is a war dance they do to get themselves up for the game. I know it has a huge spiritual meaning to New Zealand. Our response was just to show ourselves, the team and the Allianz Stadium that we’re ready for the challenge.”
The All Blacks head coach, Scott Robertson, acknowledged his side had been beaten by the better side on the day. “They finished better than us,” he said. “We had some really good opportunities we didn’t take. It is hard to win a grand slam and we definitely know how hard it is now. We wanted to put our names on that history board, but we didn’t get there.”
Mack Hansen claimed a first-half hat-trick to set Ireland on course for a record 46-19 win over his native Australia in Dublin. The Canberra-born Hansen, who started at full-back for the first time at Test level, celebrated his return from a foot injury by crossing three times in the opening 28 minutes to delight a capacity Aviva Stadium crowd. Second-half scores from Caelan Doris, Ryan Baird and Robbie Henshaw ensured head coach Andy Farrell again came out on top against the former Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.
Australia trailed by just five points at the break following converted tries from Len Ikitau and Fraser McReight and claimed a late consolation through Billy Pollard. But Ireland were deserved winners ahead of completing their autumn campaign at home to South Africa, the world champions, next weekend. The fly-half Sam Prendergast kicked seven points, including a drop goal, for the dominant hosts, before his replacement Jack Crowley slotted a further nine.
South Africa shrugged off a red card for the second successive match to power to a 32-14 win over an Italy side that threw away a golden opportunity to earn a rare win over the Springboks in Turin on Saturday.
Franco Mostert was shown a red card after 11 minutes but Italy failed to make their extra man count, with Paolo Garbisi guilty of missing kickable penalties.
Tries from Marco van Staden, Morné van den Berg, Grant Williams and Ethan Hooker earned South Africa a comfortable win after they withstood enormous early pressure from Italy, who scored one second-half try through Ange Capuozzo. Guardian sport and PA
His captain, Scott Barrett, felt similarly about the failure to follow up wins against Scotland at Murrayfield and Ireland in Chicago, with Wales to come. “The grand slam was a goal we set a few weeks ago, but England pulled the rug from under us. It is hugely disappointing, but we will have to bounce back. You have got to take your hat off to England for their defence – it is a big part of their DNA.”
