England agony after last-minute drama

SKIPPER Jamie George refused to point the finger at George Ford after his double miss condemned England to yet more heartbreak.

- ADAM HATHAWAY

Ford missed a penalty and a drop goal at the death against New Zealand at Twickenham as England went down 24-22 having led 22-14 on the hour.

It was another near miss for the Red Roses who in the last 13 months have lost three close games against the All Blacks and others against France and South Africa.

The only one they have got over the line was in March when Marcus Smith’s drop goal claimed a 23-22 win over Ireland.

They tried to produce a similar trick through Ford, a 62nd minute replacement for Smith, but came up short again.

But hooker George would not throw Ford under the bus after his drop goal, hit off balance and on the back foot, went wide to the right.

George said: “If that kick goes slightly more left, we are talking about a very different result. He hasn’t missed many in his career so we certainly can’t blame him for that. We actually did what we had spoken about. We had spoken about being in that exact position, we walked through being in that exact position and we felt like we were in control of it. We kept attacking them and unfortunately George missed the kick.”