Henry Pollock leads England’s haka response after Maro Itoje rallying cry

Steve Borthwick hopes England have inspired the next generation of rugby players after defeating New Zealand at Twickenham for the first time in 13 years that all began with a stirring response to the haka.

Reprising the formation they used against the All Blacks at the 2019 World Cup, England lined up in a V formation bookended by Henry Pollock and Jamie George, who was the architect of the plan. Six years ago, the abiding image of England’s response was of Owen Farrell’s smirk as Eddie Jones’ team delivered a 19-7 victory in Yokohama.

This time, Pollock, the 20-year-old, was filmed licking his lips as the English crowd bellowed Swing Low, Sweet Chariot during the war dance. England went on to overcome a 12-0 deficit to deliver a resounding four-try victory over the world’s No 2 ranked side, which Borthwick says was inspired by a pre-match speech by captain Maro Itoje.

“He talked about when the team were 14 or 15 year old boys, dreaming of playing for England and dreaming about playing here at Allianz Stadium against teams like New Zealand,” Borthwick said. :Dreaming of beating teams like New Zealand, scoring tries, contributing to great wins, celebrating with the fans. He asked the players to go out and play with that intent of a 14 or 15 year old with a dream. The boys took those dreams onto the pitch today and they were outstanding.

“We know (World Cup) ranking helps but this isn’t about that. This is about trying to achieve special moments, special memories and today is one of them. Hopefully there’s a load of other young future rugby players watching that game around the country who want to wear the white shirt and get great victories in the future.”

Itoje says that response to the haka was designed to show England were not prepared to take a backwards step. “As a group of leaders we came up with what you guys saw,” Itoje said. “I guess it was just our response to what they did. I guess we were trying to achieve the same thing they were trying to achieve. The haka is a war dance they do to get themselves up for the game - and I know it has a huge spiritual meaning to New Zealanders. Our response was a response to the haka and just to show ourselves and the team and Allianz Stadium that we were ready for the challenge.”

The victory extends England’s winning run to 10 games, their best since the record-equalling 17 games under Eddie Jones. It also helped to lay some ghosts to bed. Twelve months ago, England led a lead slip in the final quarter against New Zealand with George Ford hitting a post and missing a drop goal at the death.

This time, Ford, who kicked a pair of drop goals and an important penalty in the final ten minutes, was imperious as England registered only their ninth win over the All Blacks. “George is a brilliant player, an outstanding leader and an even better person,” Borthwick said. “I have been privileged to work with him for a period of time. I know you like to talk about 12 months ago and the ball hitting a post but he came on 12 months ago and played really well as he always does for England. When he pulls on the England shirt he is just such a consistent performer. I am pleased for him and all the players, delighted for them. They should enjoy themselves tonight, have a good night out, then recover well because we have got Argentina a week on Sunday.

“I am particularly happy for the players today and I am even more happy for the supporters. It has been a while having a win against New Zealand here so I think they enjoyed it and I hope that south-west London is a good place for England supporters to be tonight and there are millions of England supporters, wherever they are in the country or the world, cheering this team on. I hope they are enjoying themselves right now.”

Itoje was presented with the Hillary Shield with Emma Raducanu, the British No 1 tennis player, in the stands at a packed Twickenham. Raducanu later joined the celebrations in the England dressing room.

The scenes of delirium were a marked contrast to 12 months ago when England were on a six-game losing run against tier-one opposition leading to questions over Borthwick’s future.

Yet while Borthwick says he feels no sense of vindication from the victory, he is adamant that his side are nowhere near fulfilling their potential. “When you accept the role as England head coach there’s expectation upon it,” Borthwick said. “I’d much rather be involved with a team that has expectation upon it, a role that has expectation on it, a role that doesn’t. I know the journey this team’s on, I know exactly where the team’s going and what we need to do.

“It’s another step on the journey for this team and consistently taking lessons and working on it and improving. I think the most exciting thing I find for this team right now is that we left a load of points out there, there’s loads of chances we didn’t take. We got held up over the goal line, a couple of knock-ons in the 22 when it looked like we were about to score. That tells me there’s a huge amount of growth in this team because we were playing the number two side in the world today.”

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