TEN-try England put Wales to sword with record win in Cardiff

Last Updated: 15/03/25 7:06pm

England held up their end of the bargain in the Six Nations title race with a merciless record-breaking 68-14 victory over Wales at the Principality Stadium.

Ireland's victory in Italy earlier on Super Saturday saw them climb into top spot, but England emphatically put Wales to the sword as a 10-try thrashing in Cardiff saw them leapfrog the reigning champions to emerge as the main rivals to champions-elect France.

Steve Borthwick's side secured the bonus point they needed before half-time thanks to five tries from Maro Itoje, Tom Roebuck, Tommy Freeman, Chandler Cunningham-South and Will Stuart.

And they repeated the feat in the second half, with Alex Mitchell, Joe Heyes, a double from debutant Henry Pollock and another from Cunningham-South inflicting the most sobering defeat of Wales' now 17-game losing streak.

A try in either half from Ben Thomas proved scant consolation for Wales and departing interim head coach Matt Sherratt as they ended a miserable campaign the owners of successive Six Nations wooden spoons for the first time.

Victory for France over Scotland later on Saturday will secure them the Six Nations title at England's expense but they could yet get their hands on the trophy if Scotland do them a favour by winning or drawing and denying France a bonus point.

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Ruthless England run amok in Cardiff

It took just three minutes for England to find the opening score, captain Itoje touching down from the base of a ruck after influential fly-half Fin Smith had kicked a penalty to the corner in an early statement of intent.

Wales looked to have produced a scintillating response when full-back Blair Murray raced clear and over in the corner but, following protracted deliberations from the match officials, the try was ruled out after Tomos Williams was adjudged to have interfered from an offside position.

England took full advantage of their reprieve, Roebuck capping his first Test start with an imperious score in the corner after gathering Fin Smith's miss pass.

After an unsuccessful kicked penalty to the corner, Gareth Anscombe's touchfinder at the second attempt provided Wales with the platform to mount their response, with Thomas crashing over to get the hosts on the board.

But it only provoked a merciless response from England as Freeman, Cunningham-South and Stuart all punched through the Welsh defence in the final six minutes of the half to secure a 26-point lead at the break.

Wales reinforced the floodgates to an extent after the restart but failed time and again to reduce the arrears, notably squandering a three-on-one when Elliot Mee went alone, offloaded off the turf and forced Max Llewellyn and Aaron Wainwright to knock-on into the in-goal area.

Scrum-half Mitchell got the scoreboard ticking again for England on 55 minutes, scampering over after the ball cannoned off the head of Elliot Daly in the tackle.

Debutant Pollock gathered a sublime miss pass from substitute George Ford to join the club of England tryscorers on debut, and after Heyes had touched down and Thomas scored his and Wales' second, the Northampton flanker and Cunningham-South grabbed their second to add further salt to Welsh wounds.

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