England Rises Again: Historic Victory over the All Blacks at Twickenham
In a gray afternoon in Twickenham, England lit up the field with a performance for the history books, demonstrating character, precision, and immense self-confidence by defeating the All Blacks with a score of 33-19.
The tension held until the 76th minute, when Tom Roebuck secured the victory with his try, establishing a 14-point lead that sealed the triumph. The emotional energy was exhausted in both teams, in a match where England proved to be a growing force.
This triumph came after an adverse start, with England losing 12-0 in the first 18 minutes. But, the team stayed focused, fighting to get back in the game with tries from Ollie Lawrence, Sam Underhill, Fraser Dingwall and Tom Roebuck, delighting the Twickenham crowd.At the end of the match, the English celebrations were a mixture of joy and exhaustion. This team became the ninth in English history to defeat the All Blacks.
England has built 10 consecutive victories and shut out the All Blacks. The match was a true indicator of England’s current quality.
After 18 minutes, England were 12-0 down. But today was not like that. They stuck to the processes, reduced the difference in the score, survived the mental adversity of two tries and then responded.
They achieved it thanks to Ford’s brilliance, Underhill’s incredible work rate, the ball-winning and organizational skills of their centers, Maro Itoje’s leadership, the strength of the bench, and their tactical versatility to attack and pressure teams in different ways.This victory could be a big step in building the confidence and momentum that can translate into trophies in a couple of years.
England has been waiting for this type of victory since 2019, when they defeated the All Blacks in the semi-finals of the World Cup that year.
Their victory over Australia two weeks ago was the first against the Wallabies, All Blacks or Springboks since 2022. They’ve been knocking on the door for a while, only to have it slammed in their face.
A victory over the All Blacks is a rare thing for an England player. Before today, only eight England teams had defeated New Zealand in the 46 test matches they have played.
England’s response to the haka was similar to the “v” formation they formed before the victory in Yokohama six years ago.This victory showed that England is building under the command of Steve Borthwick.
Ford was magnificent as an opener. Today Ford scored a penalty in the 75th minute to extend England’s lead to nine points before Roebuck scored a minute later to give the result of 33-19.
Ford was magnificent as an opener. Three years earlier, he saw two late kicks fail against the All Blacks. Instead, it was a sign of England’s difficulties: they were very close, but couldn’t win the battle of the last quarter.
It was an expert management, in a match in which their two drop-goals just before halftime reduced the All Blacks’ lead from 12-5 to 12-11.
From there, England built and built until the All Blacks’ dam broke. This was an England team that at times struggled with the fundamentals. They lost three lineouts on their own throw in the first half. Unheard of.But even so, they didn’t let that bother them, even when they were losing 12-0, they didn’t blink.
The All Blacks’ errors arrived: two missed penalty kicks to the scoring zone, knock-ons and general clumsiness.
England survived the potential comeback from the All Blacks when Will Jordan scored to make it a six-point game in the 65th minute, while England had 14 men with Ben Earl sin-binned.
But they resisted, and England was the one who delivered the final blows of the match. The scrum ended up dominant, England was the first on every loose ball, and it was they who had the match in the palm of their hand.
New Zealand will be baffled by this. They were going for a Grand Slam on the northern hemisphere tour, but they fell short.
Aside from their two lightning tries, they were seconds behind a team that played at a higher intensity, much more physical and clinical.
Mark this as a standout performance from England, ending a 13-year wait for a victory over the All Blacks at Twickenham.
Ford will grab the headlines, and rightly so, but this was a win from number 1 to 23 and a test of progress.
