England 33-19 New Zealand: How Twickenham learned to love the bomb

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

Borthwick was a master at choosing when to move on and pivot with his team.

His belief in Dingwall, who has more strengths than some of his rivals in midfield, has paid off. The call to bring Ford, the Six Nations’ third-choice fly-half, back to the fore was also confirmed.

The much-vaunted bench’s impact was less noticeable in the second half.

When he pulled the plug on ‘Pom Squad’, the momentum boost we expected didn’t happen immediately.

But part of that was because the starters performed so well.

After all, England had too much attacking dimension and too many options to be contained by New Zealand.

When Pollock took the final touch and Roebuck took the ball and entered play, an almost surreal ’33-19′ appeared on the Twickenham scoreboard.

It was just three short of England’s famous win in 2012, but it exceeded all but the wildest expectations of England fans.

Of course, three years later, the 2012 team went up in flames at their home Rugby World Cup, failing to make it out of the pool scene.

As the rafters shook, beers spilled and Allianz Stadium’s bowl filled with joyful giddiness, it seemed impossible for this team to follow the same course.

They’re still rising like the George Ford bombshell.

As always, Borthwick kept his feelings and expectations secret afterwards.

“This is a developing team, a growing team,” he said.

“They’re a team that needs experience together and that’s exactly what they do every time, they go out there every week and train really hard and focus on what they need to improve on and it shows on the pitch.

“The team has a lot of faith in our preparation, the way we try to play and the talent we have within the team.

“It’s about trying to reach special moments, special memories. Today is one of them.”

If they can suppress a dangerous and tired Argentina team next weekend it will mean 11 consecutive wins for England and just one defeat in 2025.

Perhaps the most telling numbers were on the Twickenham decibel meter, showing the love for a team that didn’t always feel it.