Steve Borthwick hailed George Ford's decision making as he helped inspire England to a 33-19 win over New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday.
England ran in four tries against the All Blacks with Ollie Lawrence, Sam Underhill, Fraser Dingwall and Tom Roebuck all crossing. But after just 18 minutes, England found themselves 12-0 down after two quickfire tries from the All Blacks.
Lawrence's try, and two drop-goals from Ford saw England head into the break just a point down, though, and from there, they piled on the points to claim just their ninth ever win over the All Blacks.
Ford finished with a total of 13 points -- including those two drop-goals before the break -- and was named player of the match. This performance came a year after Ford missed two late kicks at the posts against the All Blacks, as England lost 24-22.
"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."
- Hamilton: England self-belief gets them over the line in historic win over All Blacks
- England 33-19 New Zealand: Ford inspires England to comeback win over All Blacks
On the drop-goals, Borthwick said: "If you've got a skillset like George Ford has, with test matches as tight as they are it's always a factor. Was it a special part of the plan? No. I trust the 10 to make decisions. I thought he made brilliant decisions and executed perfectly."
Borthwick was delighted with the win, but refused to get carried away with the significance of their first triumph over the All Blacks on Twickenham soil since 2012.
"I am over the moon for the players and especially the supporters to have got this win today," Borthwick said. "I think the players worked exceptionally hard, they've worked really hard to bring the supporters on the journey with the team and I think they are.
"I think the atmosphere there at Allianz Stadium I thought was terrific and I hope the supporters are having a good night tonight. 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.
"So we'll enjoy this, it's another great memory that the players have made and then we'll go on next Sunday and try and make another memory."
England next face Argentina on Sunday, looking to make it four from four this autumn.
"There is a lot of belief, a lot of belief in the preparation, a lot of belief in the way we are trying to play and a lot of belief in the ability of the team," Borthwick said.
"That is something we will continue to work on. The message to the players is enjoy tonight as we do every Test match we win, because they are special. Then we have got one more Test here against Argentina on Sunday."