"Written him off" - England wing Tom Roebuck delighted to see George Ford prove critics wrong

In what could retrospectively now been viewed as a blessing in disguise, Ford missed the call from Andy Farrell for the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia a few months ago. Owen Farrell, along with Marcus and Fin Smith, all headed 'down under' in the Summer, with Ford left behind to hold down the mantle for England's fixtures 'across the pond'.

After being succeeded by the Smiths throughout the 2024 Autumn Series and 2025 Six Nations, Marcus and Fin persued the red of the Lions, to leave Ford was back in the England saddle. Ford donned the England 10 jersey for the first time in 15 months for the pre-tour tune up against a France XV at Twickenham. Despite the narrow defeat, Ford's class was evident with the Sale man then entrusted to steer England's ship throughout the Summer tour of a Lions-taming Argentina and the plucky USA.

A stunning trilogy of Test wins would follow with Ford at the helm, with Borthwick rewarding the Sale man's efforts by extending his time as the starting 10 to run throughout the current Autumn Nations Series. Ford was peerless in England's recent triumph over the All Blacks, as the out-half slotted two momentum turning drop goals, executed a 50-22 ahead of Fraser Dingwall's try, and took the match beyond all doubt with a late decisive penalty.

Ford's Sale Sharks teammate Tom Roebuck is delighted to see the 104-capped international back at his best in an England jersey, as the wing always backed Ford to prove the critics wrong. Whilst the narrative last year felt that Ford's time in the England camp was coming to an end, Roebuck never bet against his teammate from the North West.

"I think he's shown his class." Roebuck said. However many people had written him off over the years, it just goes to show that he's a top quality operator, and he can do it at the top level time and time again. Which is obviously massive for us, for me, and knowing him personally, I'm just so proud."

"He's got that drop goal talent in him, he showed it time and time again for us. It's obviously massive just to be able to see him sit in the pocket, put three points over, go back, and we can just keep building the score."

It has been well documented just how significant England's win is over the All Blacks, with the 33-19 victory marking the first England triumph over New Zealand at the Allianz Stadium since 2012. The feat had only been accomplished eight previous times, with the magnitude of the occassion not lost on Roebuck. However, ever the professional and looking to the next task at hand, the Sale wing was quick to turn his attention to the incoming challenge of Argentina, who await England for their Autumn closer this Sunday at the Allianz Stadium.

"Ultimately, this is a massive win for us, and we'll enjoy it which is definitely needed. I think that when we come back in, all our focus will be on Argentina, another class outfit. They showed that in the Summer tests. To have a few more players back for them is obviously going to be a big game for them. So we'll go into this week, and we'll review what we did well and what we didn't do well. So, that'll be on Wednesday, that we're going to look at that."

Roebuck was apart of both of England's Summer victories over Argentina, as the 24-year-old was on hand to bag a brace of tries in the first Test in La Plata, Buenos Aires. Roebuck raced away for tries just one and eight minutes after the half-time break, with a second half explosion that helped England secure the 35-12 away win.

The second Test in San Juan brought about a closer contest, with England narrow 22-17 victors over Los Pumas, thanks to tries from Freddie Steward and Seb Atkinson, along with George Ford's educated feet from the tee. When asked what he learned about his incoming South American opponents, Roebuck dialed in on the rapid back-line.

"They're obviously a quality outfit. I think that their kick contest game is up there as well. That's obviously going to be something that we know will be coming. I think that when they do get the ball in their hands, and get the ball out wide, they're electric with their back three, their outside backs. So that'll be a challenge for us."