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In November 2024, national team playmaker Ford looked disheartened at Allianz Stadium.

The replacement was brought on from the bench to support England complete a famous win against New Zealand, but instead was unable to score a crucial penalty along with a drop-kick as England lost by a narrow margin.

Following those costly misses, Ford needed to put in effort to get another shot to achieve success to the English team.

His playing time was limited to 25 minutes in the recent Six Nations but a string of impressive performances, particularly on the summer tour against Argentina and the USA when the Smith players were away on Lions tour commitments, returned him solidly as a starting option.

The veteran player fully validated the manager's confidence through his selection versus New Zealand, and the Sharks star produced a man-of-the-match display to help the hosts to a breakthrough triumph over New Zealand on home soil ending a drought dating to 2012.

The pivotal moment occurred as Ford converted back-to-back drop-goals immediately preceding halftime.

It helped England bounce back from being down 12-0 to narrow the gap to 12-11 at the break, before Borthwick's star-studded bench once more performed in the second half to help his side to a comfortable 33-19 win.

"Credit must be given to the veteran members on our squad, particularly Ford," the coach stated. "In that moment when he converted those drop-kicks, he controlled the match remarkably well.

"One year earlier In my view George entered and performed really well [versus the All Blacks].

"A attempt hit the upright while he attempted a pressured drop-kick, yet he performed excellently.

"He is a phenomenal leader, an outstanding athlete and an even finer individual. We are privileged to feature him in our squad."

Drop-kicks 'consistently planned'

New Zealand commenced strongly in the stadium, surging to a twelve-point advantage via touchdowns by Fainga'anuku and Taylor.

Following Ollie Lawrence's powerful finish, Ford's consecutive three-pointers meant the hosts bounced into the locker room with the momentum.

"The challenging thing during those periods occurs as the display indicates a twelve-point deficit, we can stick to our plan and what we believe the optimal approach to play the game is," Ford explained.

"We worked our way back into contention and we recognized were we to commence the second half well, as reserves joined, we were in an advantageous spot.

"Although facing fifteen minutes to go, we were positioned defending our goal line after a penalty, thus we encountered obstacles during that phase also.

"I believe this illustrates elite competition requires - who manages best in those circumstances the best."

Each effort happened within two minutes of each other as the fly-half who nailed three drop-goals during a victory facing the Argentine team during the 2023 World Cup, showed all his century of caps experience.

Ford hit two drop-kicks representing Sale in a Prem game occurring during tough circumstances against Bath - it is a skill he is well-practised in.

"It [the drop-goals] form part of our strategy," Ford stated further.

"Steve is such an outstanding manager that he consistently advising me, and correctly so as three points prove important at any stage of the game."

Ford marshalled his side brilliantly across the pitch the entire match, executing intelligent kicks - both to compete and identifying openings against the defensive line.

His trademark high spiral kick additionally troubled the opposing fullback, who mishandled the ball.

After beginning the national team's triumph against Australia during the autumn series, Ford handed over the fly-half position to the younger Smith against Fiji a week later.

But the biggest test on paper this autumn occurred versus the multiple World Cup winners, and Ford reclaimed his starting role.

The English team, now on a run of an unbeaten streak of ten, meet Argentina in late November and it will be interesting to discover if the manager opts to Fin Smith or persists with Ford.

Whichever decision is made, Ford proved two years away before the World Cup that there is plenty of rugby left for him.