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During November 2024, England fly-half Ford looked disheartened at Allianz Stadium.

Ford had been summoned from the bench to support the home side close out a famous win against New Zealand, yet was unable to score a decisive kick and drop-goal as England lost by two points.

In the wake of those pivotal failures, Ford had to work hard to get another shot to achieve success to the English team.

His playing time was limited to 25 minutes throughout the Six Nations tournament however a series of strong showings, notably in the summer matches of Argentina and the United States when the Smith players were away on British and Irish Lions duty, returned him solidly among starting candidates.

The 32-year-old not only repaid the manager's confidence through his selection against the All Blacks, and the Sharks star achieved a best-player showing to assist the hosts to their initial victory versus the Kiwis on home soil ending a drought dating to 2012.

The pivotal moment in the game Ford converted two drop-goals in succession immediately preceding halftime.

This enabled the English overcome a 12-0 deficit to reduce the margin to 12-11 at the break, ahead of the manager's skilled reserves once more performed in the second half to assist the team to a comfortable 33-19 triumph.

"You have to give credit to the veteran members within our side, especially George," the manager commented. "That period where he hit those drop-kicks, he managed the game just incredibly.

"One year earlier In my view George entered and performed really well [against New Zealand].

"One kick struck the post while he attempted a difficult drop-goal, however his play was outstanding.

"He's an exceptional captain, a superb performer and an even finer individual. We are fortunate to include him on our team."

Drop-kicks 'consistently planned'

The Kiwis started quickly in the stadium, surging to a twelve-point advantage through scores from Fainga'anuku and Taylor.

Following Ollie Lawrence's impressive score, Ford's consecutive drop-kicks meant the hosts returned to the locker room with renewed energy.

"The difficult aspect in those moments is, when the scoreboard says 12-0, we are able to adhere to our guns and our philosophy the optimal approach to play the game is," Ford said.

"We fought our way back into contention and we recognized were we to commence the latter half effectively, as reserves joined, we found ourselves in a favorable situation.

"Even with 15 minutes left, we found ourselves defending our goal line after a penalty, meaning we faced difficulties during that phase also.

"I believe this illustrates elite competition requires - who can deal with those moments superiorly."

Each effort came within two minutes of each other while the number 10 who executed three drop-kicks during a victory against Argentina at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, showed all his international experience.

Ford converted two drop-kicks representing Sale in a Prem game played in challenging weather at Bath - this demonstrates a talent he is well-practised in.

"It [the drop-goals] are consistently planned," Ford added.

"The coach is such an outstanding manager since he continually in my ear about it, and appropriately because three points prove important during any phase of competition."

Ford guided his team superbly throughout the match the complete contest, executing intelligent kicks - for both attacking and defensive purposes and locating gaps against the defensive line.

His trademark tactical bomb additionally troubled the New Zealand player, who couldn't collect.

After beginning the national team's triumph versus the Wallabies in early November, Ford handed over the starting role to his replacement during the Fiji match seven days later.

But the biggest test theoretically this season came against the experienced New Zealand team, and Ford reclaimed his spot.

England, now on a run of an unbeaten streak of ten, face Argentina in late November and it will be interesting to determine if the manager opts for the younger Smith or persists with Ford.

Whatever choice occurs, Ford demonstrated ahead of the next tournament prior to global competition that significant amounts of rugby left in him.