Wales-14-68 England
by David Nicholson
at the Millennium Stadium

A RAMPANT England overpowered Wales to rack up their biggest victory in Cardiff but France took the title after despatching Scotland in Paris.

Despite beating France in a narrow Twickenham victory, Les Bleus took the title by a single point.

England and France both won four out of their five matches, but Les Bleus secured an extra bonus point and had a superior points difference.

England’s victory was the largest home loss for Wales, who have now finished successive Six Nations championships with the Wooden Spoon and a losing run of 17 defeats.

A fired-up England grabbed their bonus point fourth try in the 30th minute as Tommy Freeman went over to score his fifth try in five Six Nations games, the first Englishman to achieve the feat.

The visitors were fired up for this encounter with old rivals Wales, knowing their only chance of grabbing the championship was to get a bonus point and rack up a big points difference.

England bossed the breakdown and the collisions as they forced Wales back with their ferocity and speed of tackling.

After succeeding Warren Gatland, interim head coach Matt Sherratt had coaxed some good performances out of Wales in his opening two games.

But as fans dreamed of defeating their bitterest rivals, England shattered their hope with a score in the second minute.

Captain Maro Itoje scored England’s opening try as the visitors set out their stall to play an expansive game after the skipper rejected the easy three-point penalty on offer.

But it could have easily been a different scoreline in the first half as Blair Murray’s try was ruled out for off-side by television match official Mike Adamson and a last-gasp tap tackle on Murray by Luke Cowan-Dickie stopped a certain score.

Head Coach Steve Borthwick has faced criticism for some stodgy attacking performances during this championship, but his side saved the best until the end.

Their physicality stunned Wales and the speed of ball retention and recycling left the men in red grappling at shadows.

Former Wales skipper Sam Warburton told BBC television: “If you win the power game so convincingly there's nothing the other team can do.

“They were just physically far superior. There was nothing Wales could do and that was the hardest watch for me, because it just showed the gulf in physicality.”

Earlier on Saturday afternoon, Italy gave title pretenders Ireland a scare in Rome as they ran last season’s champions close.

The Azurri gained a bonus point for finishing five points short of Ireland and managed to avoid the Wooden Spoon for the second season in succession.

After Ireland’s rout at the hands of France last weekend, the men in green needed a dominant performance to silence the whispers that the ageing side is a fading force.

England’s emphatic victory means interim Irish coach Simon Easterby’s side finish third despite having pretensions to win a third successive championship.

Scotland were in the hunt for a Paris upset but France rode their luck with a Scottish try ruled out by a hair’s breadth after Blair Kinghorn's scintillating run was adjudged to have touched the line.

Peato Mauvaka should have been given a red card after a headbutt on Ben White but was only shown yellow.

Les Bleus four tries secured the title and brought their total to 30 across the five games, setting a new Six Nations record and breaking England’s 2001 tally of 29.