Ten-try England rout Wales but title bid falls short

Men’s Six Nations

Wales (7) 14

Cons: Anscombe, J. Evans, B. Thomas

England (33) 68

England’s record Six Nations victory over woeful Wales was a ten-try victory, but France’s subsequent Super Saturday defeat to Scotland put them in the dust.

Anything less than a win for France would give Steve Borthwick’s side the championship, given their thumping victory in Cardiff.

For the first time since 2022, Fabien Galthie’s men fought back after briefly dissenting, squandering a slim three-point lead into half-time.

England’s afternoon at the Principality Stadium and a second-place finish to the campaign have plenty of positive aspects to look forward to.

Their selection decisions, which included selecting Tommy Freeman for midfield and selecting six players for the bench, paid off when Wales was briefly swept aside by their dominance and brought them within sight of the tournament jackpot.

A thrashing at half-time and a thrashing at half-time gave Wales little to cling on to.

Wales finish bottom of the table once more thanks to Matt Sherratt’s three-game interim head coach’s initial air of optimism, “retaining” the Wooden Spoon from last year.

Wales fans had dared to dream before kick-off, snarl, and sing through England’s warm-up, encouraged by the belief that narrower scorelines against Ireland and Scotland had inspired them.

Reality entered only after three minutes. England’s captain Maro Itoje burrowed over after being caught and kicked to the corner.

The previous night’s rival Cardiff Arms Park’s Under-20 team had a similarly early lead before being overshadowed by a committed Wales performance.

Blair Murray might have provided the catalyst for a similar comeback, or at least longer-lasting resistance, by scooping up a loose ball and scampering in.

However, after an Alex Mitchell box-kick was spilled, referee Nic Berry chalked off the score and spotted Tomos Williams entering play from an offside position.

With Murray hanging off him, Tom Roebuck, who had been fouled by a fizzed Fin Smith miss pass, did a tremendous amount of reach and strength before the ball went down in the opening 10 minutes, extending England’s lead to 14 points.

The small battles were never won by the visitors.

After colliding with Will Stuart and Tommy Freeman’s tag team, Gareth Anscombe was taken off the floor. A scrum penalty was celebrated by Ben Earl. Murray was denied by Luke Cowan-Dickie’s superb tap-tackle.

And by the half’s end, England was putting a lot of pressure on the scoreboard.

After quick hands from Northampton team-mates Fraser Dingwall and Fin Smith, Freeman scored in the final 34 minutes to become the first Englishman to score in a Six Nations match.

Chandler Cunningham-South, who had come in early to replace Ollie Chessum, pushed through Murray on his second surge in quick succession at the end of 38 minutes.

Only Ben Thomas’ score, a well-taken line off Anscombe, provided a countermeasure to Wales’ potential of disintegration in the face of England’s strength and cohesion.

After the break, Aaron Wainwright and Max Llewellyn failed to grasp Ellis Mee’s offload in the face of the line, so a second Wales try went beggars.

It was a rare opportunity because England’s back row predominated both the breakdown and gainline.

When Freeman injured himself, England were forced to rejig. Earl moved into the centers while Henry Pollock, who turned 20 in January, was summoned for his Test debut.

The flow of scores was not halted by the disruption, though.

After Elliot Daly’s tackle had thrown the ball out of Jarrod Evans’ grasp, Mitchell hacked upfield and collected for England’s sixth try.

Before Joe Heyes gathers Tom Willis’ spectacular offload for another test, Pollock gleefully marked his Test debut with a score by sprinting in out wide from a sharp pass from George Ford.

The only sound emanated from the shrill of record books and the pockets of England fans cheering in front of a dim Principality Stadium.

As chants in support of Scotland sprouted in the stands only to be broken by cheers as Pollock and Cunningham-South doubled their tallies, the visiting supporters’ minds changed to title permutations.

Before the game, a large number of Wales fans had left, and Thomas’ 77th-minute try, which was insufficient, was missed.

I’m so happy that there are plenty of England fans to cheer about because there were so many of them and they were loud, which is probably the loudest I’ve ever heard in Cardiff.

“I’m delighted that I have the opportunity to coach this young group of players.” I believe this team is capable of making a lot of mistakes.

Ben Curry, the man of the match, on BBC One: “I’m really happy for everyone involved. This team has been through a lot.”

It’s unbelievable to be able to do that for both the fans and ourselves.

“This is what you dream,” you say. I enjoy playing for this team. Although I haven’t had many opportunities in the last two years, I’ve loved joining this team and camp.

It’s a very difficult one to reflect on because the emotions are very raw, says Wales interim head coach Matt Sherratt.

“They’re a good group of people and they deserve more,” I think, which is probably my biggest regret.

You could probably see today was a body blow to your eyes from the fact that it’s been an extremely difficult 18 months.

Wales’ captain Jac Morgan said, “We are devastated with the outcome, but I give England credit because they were brilliant today and patient when they had that ball.”

“You can’t deny the boys’ commitment to training and their effort,” he said.

Replacements: Reffell, Rhodri Williams, Evans, Tompkins, G Thomas, Assiratti, Teddy Williams, and Lake.

England: M Smith, Roebuck, Freeman, Dingwall, Daly, F Smith, Mitchell, Genge, Cowan-Dickie, Stuart, Itoje, Chessum, T Curry, B Curry, Earl

Replacements: Ford, Pollock, Willis, Baxter, Heyes, Cunningham-South, Pollock, Van Poortvliet, and George Baxter.

Referee: Austrian Referee Nic Berry