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How to tune into Sport NationFord steers superb England to first Twickenham win over All Blacks since 2012
Reuters • November 16th, 2025 7:25 am
Photo: Paul Thomas/Photosport
England rallied from 12-0 down with 25 unanswered points to beat a ragged New Zealand 33-19 for a first victory over them at Twickenham since 2012 and ending the All Blacks' hopes of a tour Grand Slam.
Leicester Fainga'anuku and Codie Taylor punished a disorganised England defence with tries for an early 12-0 lead but a barrelling Ollie Lawrence run and two drop-goals from fly-half George Ford cut the deficit to a point at halftime.
Tries by Sam Underhill and Fraser Dingwall early in the second half put England 25-12 ahead but Will Jordan struck back for New Zealand to make it 25-19 with 25 minutes remaining.
But a Ford penalty took England two scores ahead and Tom Roebuck put the icing on the cake with a try three minutes from time.
It was a 10th straight win since February — England's longest streak in nearly a decade — and the biggest yet in coach Steve Borthwick's three-year reign.
It was also England's first victory over the All Blacks since the 2019 World Cup semi-final.
Man-of-the-match George Ford celebrates with his England teammates in the win over New Zealand | Photo: AP
It was fully deserved too as they attacked with real venom and often left the vaunted All Blacks looking clueless with the ball.
England lost to New Zealand three times last year by a combined total of 10 points, failing to score a point after the hour in all of them. On Saturday, however, they kept the foot on the pedal to finish totally on top.
Ford had been preferred to Fin Smith for the England No.10 shirt for his vast experience and he showed every inch of it in a polished and composed display that earned a deserved man of the match award.
"I loved it, it was a challenging game," Ford said.
"We went 12-0 down and came back well. We became a bit inaccurate so we had to work a few things out and the boys did that really well."
The All Blacks had made them pay early on as Fainga'anuku squeezed through for the opening try before hooker Taylor crossed on the same left wing with Beauden Barrett's conversion making it 12-0.
But England's pressure paid off when Lawrence showed fantastic aggression to blast through two tackles and put the hosts on the board.
Ford missed the conversion but made ample amends with two crisply-struck drop-goals to make it 12-11 at the break.
Two minutes after the restart Taylor was yellow-carded for a pointless hand in the tackle and from the resulting penalty England sent hard runners at the line, culminating in Underhill charging over.
Scott Barrett looks dejected following the All Blacks' loss to England at Twickenham | Photo: Paul Thomas/Photosport
England then gave away a series of penalties as the All Blacks finally built pressure to send Jordan over for their first points for 47 minutes.
But a lineout offence handed England a penalty six minutes from time 30 metres out wide on the right. Last year, Ford hit the post from a similar distance as England lost by two points, but this time he made the game safe.
If the crowd liked that it was as nothing compared with how they reacted to the irrepressible Henry Pollock dribbling a loose ball into the corner for Roebuck to scoop up and score.
"England sort of ground their way back into the game. George Ford had a blinder and just accumulated points and they took their opportunities," All Blacks captain Scott Barrett admitted.
England will look to complete a sweep of their series and make it 11 wins in a row against Argentina next Sunday, while New Zealand visit Wales with their Grand Slam hopes over.
All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson at Twickenham | Photo: Matt Impey/Photosport
Speaking with Sky Sport after the match, All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson acknowledged the dejection and disappointment felt by his players after their third loss of the 2025 season.
"Grand Slams are tough, it's hard to do. There will be a lot of emotional people in the changing room because we all wanted to be put in the history books beside everyone else that had done it for the All Blacks, so we'll go to Wales hungry," Robinson said.
All Blacks vice-captain Codie Taylor has shouldered some of the responsibility.
"Personally I feel like I let my country down a little bit there with the yellow card and I just want to apologise and own that," Taylor told Sky Sport.
"We knew it was going to be a tough test match. We probably felt like we had the first half and then they just crawled their way back.
"The great thing about this team is that we're really tight ... At the end of the day if you get to put on the All Blacks jersey, you want to do it proud and whatever that looks like for some players, we just need to prepare accordingly."
- additional reporting by Sport Nation.
Tune into The Rugby Run for talkback, interviews and more post-match. This Sunday from midday on Sport Nation.
