England took the Guinness Six Nations title race to its final game after destroying Wales 68-14 in Cardiff.
Steve Borthwick’s team guaranteed themselves a top-two finish, ahead of favourites France hosting Scotland, in emphatic bonus-point fashion but Wales were condemned to a second successive wooden spoon and 17th Test defeat on the bounce – a record for a tier one nation in the professional era.
The Prince and Princess of Wales, respective patrons of the Welsh Rugby Union and Rugby Football Union, looked on at the Principality Stadium as England collected a bonus point by half time before completing a record Six Nations win against Wales in 10-try fashion.
There were touchdowns during the opening flurries from captain Maro Itoje and wing Tom Roebuck but the real damage was done during a six-minute scoring blitz just before the interval.
Wing Tommy Freeman became only the second player after France’s Philippe Bernat-Salles 24 years ago to score a try in every match of a Six Nations campaign, with Chandler Cunningham-South and prop Will Stuart – on his 50th cap – also crossing.
It was one-way traffic as scrum-half Alex Mitchell added a sixth England try, with debutant Henry Pollock scoring twice, his fellow replacement Joe Heyes also going over and Cunningham-South adding a second, while Fin Smith kicked five conversions and Marcus Smith four.
Outclassed Wales’ only replies were a Ben Thomas try double, with Gareth Anscombe and Jarrod Evans each landing a conversion as interim head coach Matt Sherratt’s three games in charge came to a demoralising end.
England made a dream start, monopolising possession and taking a third-minute lead when Itoje picked up and dived over from close range, with Smith converting.
Wales thought they had scored an equalising try five minutes later when full-back Blair Murray ran in unopposed from 40 metres but the score was ruled out for scrum-half Tomos Williams being offside.
England made the most of their reprieve and quickly scored again as Fin Smith’s floated pass took out three home defenders and Roebuck crossed for a try on his first Test start, and the fly-half converted.
As against Scotland a week ago, Wales had started poorly while England had a confidence about them even if they suffered a 19th-minute blow when lock Ollie Chessum was forced off injured. He was replaced by Cunningham-South.
Murray continued to be comfortably Wales’ biggest attacking threat and it took a brilliant tackle from England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie to deny him a score that would have got his team back into the game.
Wales then broke through nine minutes before half time, courtesy of a brilliant pass from Williams that found Thomas and he had a simple finish, with celebrations among the crowd being led by Gavin and Stacey co-creator and star Ruth Jones.
But Welsh cheers were short-lived, with England establishing a 26-point lead by the break as Freeman, Cunningham-South and Stuart breached the Welsh defence.
Wales tried to fight their way back during the third quarter, yet wing Ellis Mee was guilty of blowing a gilt-edged try chance by ignoring an unmarked Joe Roberts and Aaron Wainwright outside him.
And England made their opponents pay as Mitchell broke clear for try number six, converted by Smith, as the visitors hit 40 points.
Wales’ misery was not complete though, with scores from Pollock and Heyes bringing up the half-century, before Pollock and Cunningham-South completed the rout with their second tries.
