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During November 2024, England fly-half Ford appeared disappointed on the Allianz Stadium turf.

The replacement was brought on from the bench to support England close out a famous win facing the Kiwis, however was unable to score a crucial penalty and drop-goal as England fell short in a close contest.

After those expensive errors, the player was required to strive to secure another chance to achieve success for England.

His playing time was limited to 25 minutes in the recent Six Nations however a series of impressive performances, particularly on the warm-weather tour of Argentina and the United States when the Smith players were away on Lions tour commitments, reestablished him strongly in the starting mix.

The veteran player not only repaid Steve Borthwick's faith in starting him facing the Kiwis, and the Sharks star delivered a player-of-the-match performance to help England to a breakthrough triumph over New Zealand in their own stadium for the first time since 2012.

The crucial point in the game Ford converted two drop-goals in succession immediately preceding halftime.

It helped England bounce back from being down 12-0 to reduce the margin to 12-11 by halftime, before Borthwick's star-studded bench once more performed after halftime to help his side to a comfortable 33-19 victory.

"Recognition should be offered to the senior players on our squad, particularly Ford," the manager commented. "That period where he hit those drop-kicks, he directed play remarkably well.

"Twelve months ago I believed Ford substituted and competed really well [versus the All Blacks].

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

"He is a phenomenal leader, an outstanding athlete and an even finer individual. We are honored to have him on our team."

Drop-goals 'always in the plan'

The All Blacks began rapidly during the match, racing into a substantial early margin with tries by Fainga'anuku and Taylor.

After Lawrence's strong try, Ford's back-to-back drop-goals meant the hosts bounced into the changing rooms with psychological advantage.

"The difficult aspect during those periods comes when the board shows a twelve-point deficit, we are able to adhere to our guns and what we believe the optimal approach to play the game is," Ford explained.

"We got ourselves back into it and we recognized should we begin the latter half effectively, as reserves joined, we found ourselves in a favorable situation.

"Even with fifteen minutes to go, we ended up near our try line after a penalty, thus we encountered obstacles in that instance too.

"I think that's what Test rugby is - who can deal in those circumstances superiorly."

The two attempts came within close succession as Ford who successfully converted three drop-goals in a successful match against Argentina in the last global tournament, showed all his international experience.

Ford converted two three-pointers with Sale during a Premiership match occurring during tough circumstances versus Bath - it is a skill he is well-practised in.

"The drop-kicks form part of our strategy," Ford stated further.

"Steve is such a phenomenal leader that he is always advising me, and rightly so since three points prove important at any stage of play."

Ford guided his side brilliantly throughout the match the complete contest, executing intelligent kicks - both in contestable situations and in finding space behind the visitors' backfield.

His characteristic high spiral kick additionally troubled the New Zealand player, who failed to regather.

Having started the national team's triumph over Australia in early November, Ford passed on the fly-half position to Fin Smith against Fiji the following week.

Yet the most significant examination theoretically this season came against the experienced New Zealand team, so Ford returned to his position.

The English team, presently maintaining an unbeaten streak of ten, meet Argentina on 23 November creating intrigue to discover if Borthwick goes back with the alternative or maintains Ford.

Whichever decision is made, Ford demonstrated with two years remaining from a World Cup that significant amounts of rugby left for him.