How Twickenham learned to love the bomb and Borthwick

Two kicks, at opposite ends of the ground, at opposite ends of the match, summed up England's superb 33-19 win over New Zealand.

The first came after four minutes.

With England attacking in midfield, George Ford cranked back his foot and launched a steepling, wobbling spiral bomb deep into the New Zealand 22m, the 32-year-old's pilates-loosened hamstrings stretched near vertical by the effort.

The second kick came three minutes from time.

An All Black pass went to ground and Henry Pollock, a whirl of peroxide energy, got his toe to the ball first and grubbered into space.

On both occasions the kicks sparked chaos in the New Zealand defence. And, on both occasions, Allianz Stadium rumbled with anticipation as they went in.

It has not always been this way. The relationship between Steve Borthwick's England and their public has not always been smooth.

England's kick-heavy tactics when the coach took charge in December 2022 were a product of where he had come from, and where he was going.

Borthwick had won the Premiership with Leicester on the back of a powerful, low-percentage, risk-averse style. With the Rugby World Cup looming, he decided a similar approach was the best use of limited time and the players he had.

Nine months later, when England led deep into a World Cup semi-final against South Africa in the Paris rain, it was hard to argue.

Two years on though, after a few false dawns, fears that Borthwick would not - or could not - expand his style into something able to take down the game's biggest beasts seem to be settled.

England kicked plenty in their win over New Zealand. They put boot to ball 35 times, compared to the All Blacks' 29.

But it always felt like a weapon, rather than a reflex.

With last year's law tweak making the battle for the skies more fiercely contested than ever, England have bomb retrieval experts in Tom Roebuck, Freddie Steward and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.

The crowd saw the ball go up and relished the aerial fight to come. They learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.

That is made easier because there is much more to England's game now.

George Ford, stubbornly flat in the defence's faces, was superb at picking the options. His two drop-goals, deflating New Zealand's lead just before half-time, changed the complexion of the contest.

Ben Earl, who made a huge 20 carries despite spending 10 minutes in the sin-bin, crashed around like a bull in an All Black shop.

Ollie Lawrence and Fraser Dingwall combined delightfully for the latter's try and Marcus Smith brought playmaking cunning and plenty of bravery when he replaced injured full-back Steward in the backfield.

Up front Joe Heyes, ably assisted by Fin Baxter, was superb at scrum-time and bitingly sharp in defence.

The depth that has been nurtured in Argentina over the summer has created a squad of many strengths and high competition.

Borthwick has been adept at picking when to stick and twist with his team.

His faith in Dingwall, whose strengths are more subtle than some of his midfield rivals, paid off. His call to usher Ford, third choice fly-half in the Six Nations, back to the forefront has also been vindicated.

The effect of his much-vaunted bench in the second half was less noticeable.

When he pulled the pin on the 'Pom Squad', there was not the immediate momentum swing we expected.

But that was partly because the starters had performed so well.

Ultimately England had too many attacking dimensions, too many options to be contained by New Zealand.

When Pollock poked through that final kick and Roebuck picked up and went in, it brought up an almost surreal '33-19' on the Twickenham scoreboard.

Only three short of England's famous 2012 win over the same opposition, but in excess of all but England fans' wildest expectations.

Three years later of course, that 2012 team flamed out of their home Rugby World Cup, failing to get out of the pool stage.

As the rafters rocked, the pints spilled and a joyful giddiness filled the Allianz Stadium bowl, it felt impossible that this team would follow the same trajectory.

Like a George Ford bomb, they are surely still rising.

Borthwick, as ever, was keeping a lid on emotions and expectations afterwards.

"It's a team that's developing, a team that's growing," he said.

"It's a team that needs experience together and that's exactly what they're doing each time - go away each week and train really hard and being focused on what to improve, and that's showing on the pitch.

"The team has a lot of belief - in our preparation, in the way we are trying to play and in the ability we have within the team.

"This is about trying to achieve special moments, special memories. Today is one of them."

If they can subdue a dangerous, if tired, Argentina side next weekend, that would be 11 successive wins for England and only one defeat in 2025.

The numbers that were perhaps most telling though were on the Twickenham decibel meter, showing the love for a team that has not always felt it.