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Maro Itoje’s England have been urged to cement their place in sporting legend by becoming only the nation’s ninth ever side to defeat the All Blacks.
England head into Saturday’s crunch clash as marginal favourites, with meaning a first Twickenham win over New Zealand for 13 years, and George Ford has revealed that the former captain Jamie George has issued a call to arms, imploring his teammates to carve themselves a slice of history.
Steve Borthwick’s side are on a nine-match winning run but England’s men have lost their last three Tests against New Zealand and have not beaten the All Blacks since the 2019 World Cup semi-final. The last time they defeated New Zealand at Twickenham was in 2012, when Manu Tuilagi ran riot.
Saturday’s match is the 47th meeting between the sides and England have triumphed on only eight occasions in the fixture’s 120-year history but Borthwick’s troops sense their opportunity to make a name for themselves. Since 2012, New Zealand have won four of the five Twickenham games while the 2022 match ended in a draw. Addressing England’s wait for a home victory, the fly-half Ford said: “It’s a long time ago, isn’t it? It makes me feel old.
“There’s only been eight ever. It’s like: ‘Come on, let’s have a ninth now. 100 per cent. Let’s change that.’ Jamie mentioned something to the team earlier. I think the last time England beat New Zealand at Twickenham was 2012. And people still go on about 2012.
“And then [Jamie] flipped it and said: ‘This is the opportunity we have in front of us. Why can’t we be the next team that, 2025, that they talk about?’ The New Zealand game at Twickenham, 13 years ago, was the last one. It’s definitely part of my motivation.”
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Ford, who missed two late chances to kick England to victory a year ago, is one of six members of England’s squad who appeared in the 2019 World Cup semi-final and believes the class of 2025 must carry the fight to the All Blacks in order to repeat the trick. “There is a belief, 100%, you can feel that in the week,” he said. “And you are exactly right. You’ve got to go at a team like this in every area of the game. When we’ve got the ball, we’ve got to go at them. And when they’ve got the ball, we’ve got to go at them. The kicking game, the set piece, we’ve got to go at them.”
England lined up in a V-formation to face the haka before the 2019 semi-final, while for last year’s 24-22 defeat they advanced to the halfway line, much to the delight of the Twickenham crowd. Asked if England had any plans to counter the haka, the tighthead prop Joe Heyes said: “I don’t think so, no. Let’s hope our rugby [gets the crowd going]. When our backs are against the wall or we’re going well, the crowd here really does rev you up and it does help because you are blowing. You kind of forget they’re there sometimes and to know they’re there supporting you is massive for us.”
