Wales 14-68 England: ‘Visitors turn Cardiff fortress into funhouse’

Three tries in the space of six minutes, just before the break, did the damage.

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

The match was done. The desecration, though, had only just begun.

As England pounded Wales to a powder in the second half, the life seeped out of Cardiff’s sporting cathedral.

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

England didn’t care about that.

After a run of narrow defeats at Twickenham in the autumn, they have felt pain aplenty on their home turf.

They exorcised those ghosts, pummelling away with gainline dominance and ambition out the back and out wide.

The numbers spelled it out.

This 68-14 win was the most points England have ever scored against Wales, surpassing the 62 they ran in in a 2007 Rugby World Cup warm-up.

The 54-point margin of victory was the biggest any team has managed against Wales in not just the Six Nations, but the tournament in its Five and Home Nations guises too – a history going back to 1883.

A raft of novices set new benchmarks.

Tom Roebuck, physical in the tackle, a threat in the air, strong in contact, was superb on his first 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 shirt his own. Henry Pollock lived up to the hype, zipping past deflated Welsh defenders for two late scores.

Established names also buffed up their Lions credentials.

Tommy Freeman thundered around in midfield to great effect, having been shifted in off the wing. Ellis Genge showed the heavy-duty carrying that some feared had gone out of his game.

Maro Itoje’s captaincy chops are in evidence, making a persuasive case to the referee for Murray’s disallowed try. George Ford’s passing picked more holes in a gaping Welsh defence towards the end.