The home side were dominant in the pack, solid at the set piece, muscular around the field and worthy winners against a hard-working Wales.
Jonny Wilkinson may have missed his first two shots at goal, but his touch finders pinned Wales into the corner time and again, and devastating line-outs and driving mauls breached the visitors’ defence with alarming regularity.
If the first half was bad, then the second was a disaster. Three tries in the first period hurt Wales, and the six tries after the break meant the home side sent the English element of the 64,000 fans home happy.
Harlequins No.8 Nick Easter became the first England No.8 forward to score a hat-trick. His replacement, Lawrence Dallaglio, scored a try of his own as did Steve Borthwick, Mathew Tait and Jason Robinson. Scrum half Shaun Perry grabbed a brace in his man of the match performance.
There was a consolation try for Wales through Dafydd James after 59 minutes, but it was the only bright moment in an otherwise disappointing afternoon.
Tait and Robinson scored late tries as Wales tired; England secured a 62-5 win, their largest ever victory over Wales.
