'Stellar England turn Cardiff fortress into funhouse'

There was a moment, astir 15 minutes successful astatine the Principality Stadium, erstwhile you thought you knew what you were getting.

A scrum collapsed. Tom Curry shoved Nicky Smith. Arron Wainwright shoved Curry. Ollie Chessum shoved Wainwright.

And yet a grinning Dafydd Jenkins grabbed a fistful of Chessum's shirt, pulling it up implicit the England lock's rima similar a genitor dabbing astatine a toddler's grubby face.

Tit-for-tat, toe-to-toe, adjacent quarters and choky margins.

Wales were 14 points down, but, having had a Blair Murray effort chalked off, their chins were inactive up. They believed. They had been down by akin margins against Ireland and Scotland and carried the combat close back.

Against England - the rivals against whom some past and enmity tally deepest - this felt similar a contest. Like it ever does.

And then, precise quickly, it didn't.

Three tries successful the abstraction of six minutes, conscionable earlier the break, did the damage.

Tommy Freeman, Chandler Cunningham-South and Will Stuart crossed for 19 unanswered points and England trotted down the passageway 33-7 up.

The lucifer was done. The desecration, though, had lone conscionable begun.

As England pounded Wales to a pulverization successful the 2nd half, the beingness seeped retired of Cardiff's sporting cathedral.

Daffodils wilted, dragons drooped and decibels dropped to the quiescent hubbub of a cricket crowd.

England didn't attraction astir that.

After a tally of constrictive defeats astatine Twickenham successful the autumn, they person felt symptom aplenty connected their location turf.

They exorcised those ghosts, pummelling distant with gainline dominance and ambition retired the backmost and retired wide.

The numbers spelled it out.

This 68-14 triumph was the astir points England person ever scored against Wales, surpassing the 62 they ran successful in a 2007 Rugby World Cup warm-up.

The 54-point borderline of triumph was the biggest immoderate squad has managed against Wales successful not conscionable the Six Nations, but the tourney successful its Five and Home Nations guises excessively - a past going backmost to 1883.

A raft of novices acceptable caller benchmarks.

Tom Roebuck, carnal successful the tackle, a menace successful the air, beardown successful contact, was superb connected his archetypal Test start.

His Sale team-mate Ben Curry, winning his 11th cap, was a dervish, winning turnovers and collisions alike.

Fin Smith is making the 10 garment his own. Henry Pollock lived up to the hype, zipping past deflated Welsh defenders for 2 precocious scores.

Established names besides buffed up their Lions credentials.

Tommy Freeman thundered astir successful midfield to large effect, having been shifted successful disconnected the wing. Ellis Genge showed the heavy-duty carrying that immoderate feared had gone retired of his game.

Maro Itoje's captaincy chops are successful evidence, making a persuasive lawsuit to the referee for Murray's disallowed try. George Ford's passing picked much holes successful a gaping Welsh defence towards the end.

England's brag was much than happy.

"I wanted the players to play large and fast, assertive with the shot and that's precisely what they did," said caput manager Steve Borthwick.

"That's a motion that this young squad conscionable embraces challenges and it is increasing and processing fast.

"We were conscionable falling abbreviated earlier of getting those existent wins but the squad has stuck to the process."

This Wales squad - a airy imitation of the giants of the past - helped England look good. But a run featuring 4 wins from 5 games, reportedly the anticipation the Rugby Football Union had acceptable for Borthwick, doesn't connection overmuch scope for criticism.

England undoubtedly got fortunate astatine times.

They lacked dimensions astatine others, reverting excessively often to the boot.

But a circuit to Argentina and the United States this summer, wherever the lack of Lions tourists volition unfastened up abstraction to humor much youngsters, is simply a large accidental to transportation immoderate momentum and make tactics and players.

Having ransacked the Principality, England were concisely acceptable to instrumentality for a triumph lap.

With Scotland lone 3 points adrift astatine half-time successful Paris, having had a effort chalked disconnected connected the last play earlier the interval, it seemed similar France mightiness cough up the Six Nations trophy.

A replica awaited successful the bowels of Wales' stadium to beryllium handed implicit to England successful a ceremonial down closed doors, but successful beforehand of the tv cameras.

As it was, France ran distant with the crippled astatine the Stade de France and England's autobus into municipality headed alternatively for a much backstage city-centre celebration.

It volition beryllium much than six months until England are backmost unneurotic astatine afloat strength.

But the memories of turning a fortress into a funhouse successful Cardiff volition past acold longer - and substance them to further feats.