Six Nations: Wales 14 England 68
England took the 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.
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.
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It was one-way traffic as scrumhalf 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 fullback Blair Murray ran in unopposed from 40 metres but the score was ruled out for scrumhalf 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 outhalf 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.
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.
SCORING SEQUENCE - 2 mins: Itoje try, F Smith con, 0-7; 9: Roebuck try, F Smith, con, 0-14; 30: B Thomas try, Anscombe con, 7-14; 33: Freeman try, F Smith con, 7-21; 37: Chandler-Cunningham try, F Smith con, 7-28; 39: Stuart try, 7-33; (half-time: 7-33); 54: Mitchell try, F Smith con, 7-40; 66: Pollock try, M Smith con, 7-47; 69: Heyes try, M Smith con, 7-54; 76: B Thomas try, Evans con, 14-54; 78: Pollock try, M Smith con, 14-61; 80+1: Chandler-Smith try, M Smith con, 14-68.
WALES: Blair Murray; Ellis Mee, Max Llewellyn, Ben Thomas, Joe Roberts; Gareth Anscombe, Tomos Williams; Nicky Smith, Elliot Dee, WillGriff John; Dafydd Jenkins, Will Rowlands; Jac Morgan (capt), Aaron Wainwright, Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: Dewi Lake for Dee, Keiron Assiratti for John (both half-time); Teddy Williams for Rowlands, Jarrod Evans for Anscombe (both 47); Gareth Thomas for Smith, Tommy Reffell for Faletau {both 52); Nick Tompkins for Llewellyn (56); Rhodri Williams for T Williams (62).
ENGLAND: Marcus Smith; Tom Roebuck, Tommy Freeman, Fraser Dingwall, Elliot Daly; Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Will Stuart; Maro Itoje, Ollie Chessum; Tom Curry, Ben Curry, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Chandler Cunningham-South for Chessum (18 mins); Jamie George for Cowan-Dickie; Joe Heyes for for Stuart (both 46); Henry Pollock for Freeman (48); George Ford for Fin Smith (55); Tom Willis for B Curry (58); Fin Baxter for Genge (62); Jack van Poortvliet for Mitchell (67).
Referee: Nic Berry (Aus).
