England win over All Blacks can be launch pad for 2027 World Cup

LONDON :When England famously beat New Zealand in 2003 with 13 men and won in Australia for the first time it gave the squad an unswerving belief that they could beat anybody, and months later they won the World Cup for the first time.

Now, having beaten New Zealand 33-19 on Saturday after three narrow defeats last year and taking their winning run to 10, there is growing belief that they are equipped to make a serious assault on a second World Cup title back in Australia in 2027.

It was England's first victory over the All Blacks since the 2019 World Cup semi-final, arguably their greatest-ever performance, and their first at home since Manu Tuilagi ran riot in 2012.

They lost in the 2019 final to South Africa and, against all odds, new coach Borthwick took his team to within minutes of a return before losing by a point to the Springboks in the 2023 semis.

There was then a fair amount of pain, and criticism, as he tried to find ways to win in different styles, while building squad depth.

The project took a considerable step forward on Saturday when he was able to bring Six British and Irish Lions off the bench to finish off a match in a situation that last year was routinely getting away from them.

"There were a lot of positives from that, a lot of things that the players can be rightly proud of," Borthwick told reporters.

"You knew there were going to be tough times playing against a top-quality team in New Zealand but they were so composed.

"It's a team that's developing, a team that's growing. I said that at the time (last year) that 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