TWICKENHAM — History makers. On a grey afternoon, England lit up Twickenham with a performance for the ages. They showed character, precision, physicality and. above all, their immense self-belief as they beat the All Blacks 33-19.

Until Tom Roebuck darted over in the 76th minute, and England had their 14-point lead, you dared not breathe.

You’d already seen Henry Pollock bouncing around Twickenham like an overly energetic puppy, and watched as George Ford did his best to calm the whole occasion down with an astonishing performance of measured precision. But England dared not take anything for granted.

They’d had their fingers burnt before. As Roebuck went over, though, you finally settled, knowing you were witnessing something special.

Engines had been emptied, emotional energy completely sapped on both sides, in a match where England showed how they are a growing force.

All this came after they were 12-0 down after 18 minutes.

They didn’t lose focus and battled their way back with tries from Ollie Lawrence, Sam Underhill, Fraser Dingwall and Tom Roebuck delighting the Twickenham crowd.

At full time, England’s celebrations were happiness and exhaustion all bundled into one ball of joy. This lot had become the ninth-ever England side to knock over the All Blacks.

And in the end? It wasn’t close. England have built 10 wins in a row and stopped the All Blacks in their tracks.

This was engrossing, sport played on the very edge of pressure and psychological capacity — there were uncharacteristic errors, but they were symptomatic of a match which was a true gauge of just how good England are.

You can dismiss this All Blacks team as being in the shadow of previous great sides. But to do that would be a woeful disservice not only to the quality of New Zealand’s players, but also to the way England managed this.

After 18 minutes, England were 12-0 down. It was familiar. We’ve seen this before: an England side who have promised much, but choked when an acid test was offered.

But not today. They stuck to the processes, chipped away at the scoreboard, survived the mental setback of two lightning bolt tries, and then responded.

They did this through Ford’s brilliance, the incredible work rate of Underhill, the organisational and turnover skills of their centres, Maro Itoje’s leadership, the strength of the bench, and their Swiss Army Knife box of tricks where they have an ability to attack and put teams under pressure in all manner of different ways.

You can take everything and nothing from this. In the wider scheme of things, these are Test matches: they are games where you test yourselves, and you find out how good you are.

It won’t win you a World Cup. But my goodness, it can go a huge way towards building self-belief and momentum that can turn into silverware in a couple of years’ time.

England have been waiting for this kind of statement win since 2019, when they knocked over the All Blacks in the World Cup semifinal that year.

Their win over Australia a fortnight ago was their first against the Wallabies, All Blacks or Springboks since 2022. They’ve been knocking at the door for a while, only to have it slammed in their face.

But not anymore. A win over the All Blacks is a rare thing as an England player. Some wonderful players never achieved it: before today, just eight England teams defeated New Zealand out of the 46 Test matches they’ve played. They are a treasured triumph, and memories of these wins stick at the forefront of your mind.

Take England’s response to the haka — it was similar to the v-shape formation they formed before the win in Yokohama six years ago.

Back then it was Owen Farrell smirking at the All Blacks; on Saturday it was Pollock licking his lips. Moments immortalised thanks to the result. Lose? Well, you’ll look a little silly.

People have been talking about 2012 this week. Why? Well that’s the last time England defeated the All Blacks at Twickenham. You’d have seen clips of Manu Tuilagi playing all week.

Again, they’re rare — nostalgia goes into overdrive when you haven’t experienced a moment to match the emotions of that day. That’s why they still talk about 1953 in Wales, and why Scotland looked so devastated at letting their chance slip last weekend to end their wait for a first ever win. The longer it goes on, the more restless you get, and the more you want it.

What this match proved is that England are building under Steve Borthwick.

Ford was magnificent at fly-half. Three years ago he saw two late kicks miss against the All Blacks. Had the penalty which hit the post been a couple of millimetres the other way, or if the drop-goal had just gone a metre to the left, England would have had win number nine against the Kiwis.

Instead it was a sign of England’s struggles — they were so nearly there, but just couldn’t win the final quarter battle.

Today Ford slotted a penalty in the 75th minute to stretch England’s lead to nine points before Roebuck bundled over a minute later to give the 33-19 result.

It was expert management, in a match where his pair of drop-goals just before half-time reduced the All Blacks’ lead from 12-5, to 12-11.

From there England built and built until the All Blacks dam burst. By the time Roebuck crashed over, the old stadium was lifted out of its foundations.

This was an England team who at some points had fundamentals let them down. They lost three lineouts on their own throw in the first half. That’s unheard of.

But still, they didn’t let it rattle them, even when they were 12-0 down, they didn’t blink.

And the All Blacks’ mistakes came: two missed penalty kicks at touch, knock-ons, and general sloppiness.

You look introspectively at those setbacks, but it’s also to England’s credit that this happened and the sight of their “pom squad” lining up in the 51st minute to come off the bench gave them another wave of momentum and urgency.

From there, they survived the potential All Blacks’ fightback when Will Jordan went over to make it a six-point game in the 65th minute, while England were down to 14 men with Ben Earl sin-binned.

But they weathered it, and it was England who landed the final punches of the match. The scrum ended dominant, England were first to every loose ball, and they were the ones who had the match in the palm of their hand.

New Zealand will be bewildered by this. They were going for a Grand Slam northern hemisphere tour, but came up short.

Apart from their two lightning bolt tries, they were second to a team playing at a higher intensity who were far more physical and clinical.

Mark this down as a statement performance from England, ending a 13-year wait for a victory over the All Blacks at Twickenham.

Ford will get the headlines and rightly so, but this was a victory from No. 1 through to No. 23 and proof of progress.