'Stellar England turn Cardiff cauldron into funhouse'

There was a moment, about 15 minutes in at the Principality Stadium, when you thought you knew what you were getting.

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

And finally a grinning Dafydd Jenkins grabbed a fistful of Chessum's shirt, pulling it up over the England lock's mouth like a parent dabbing at a toddler's grubby face.

Tit-for-tat, toe-to-toe, close quarters and tight margins.

Wales were 14 points down, but, having had a Blair Murray try chalked off, their chins were still up. They believed. They had been down by similar margins against Ireland and Scotland and carried the fight right back.

Against England - the rivals against whom both history and enmity run deepest - it is always tight.

Only twice in the previous 11 Six Nations meetings at the Principality - Wales' wins in 2013 and 2021 - had the two teams been separated by more than 10 points.

This felt like a contest. Like it always does.

And then, very quickly, it didn't.

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.

England's boss was more than happy.

"I wanted the players to play big and fast, aggressive with the ball and that's exactly what they did," said head coach Steve Borthwick.

"That's a sign that this young team just embraces challenges and it is growing and developing fast.

"We were just falling short before of getting those actual wins but the team has stuck to the process."

This Wales team - a pale imitation of the giants of the past - helped England look good. But a campaign featuring four wins from five games, reportedly the expectation the Rugby Football Union had set for Borthwick, doesn't offer much scope for criticism.

England undoubtedly got lucky at times.

They lacked dimensions at others, reverting too often to the boot.

But a tour to Argentina and the United States this summer, where the absence of Lions tourists will open up space to blood more youngsters, is a great chance to carry some momentum and develop tactics and players.

Having ransacked the Principality, England were briefly set to return for a victory lap.

With Scotland only three points adrift at half-time in Paris, having had a try chalked off on the final play before the interval, it seemed like France might cough up the Six Nations trophy.

A replica awaited in the bowels of Wales' stadium to be handed over to England in a ceremony behind closed doors, but in front of the television cameras.

As it was, Les Bleus ran away with the game at the Stade de France and England's bus into town headed instead for a more private city-centre celebration.

It will be more than six months until England are back together at full strength.

But the memories of turning a fortress into a funhouse in Cardiff will last far longer - and fuel them to further feats.