England won their first Triple Crown for 11 years and stayed firmly on course for the RBS 6 Nations title after reigning champions Wales wilted in glorious Twickenham sunshine.
In emphatically avenging a record drubbing at Wales’ hands last season, England’s 29-18 victory means if they beat Italy in Rome next Saturday and current tournament leaders Ireland lose or draw away to France, then Chris Robshaw’s men will take the title.
Wales’ bid for an unprecedented Six Nations title hat-trick effectively ended on a sobering afternoon for a team that was also dismantled by Ireland four weeks ago.
Scrum-half Danny Care and Huddersfield-born centre Luther Burrell scored tries during the opening 35 minutes for England, while Owen Farrell kicked 19 points, landing all seven of his shots at goal.
Only Leigh Halfpenny’s astonishing accuracy - six penalties from six attempts - kept Wales interested, but they could have no complaints as England’s dominance gained a rich and right reward on the scoreboard.
It was a landmark success in England coach Stuart Lancaster’s two-year reign, and also struck an early psychological blow ahead of the countries’ World Cup 2015 pool meeting in 18 months’ time.
Speaking after the Wales win, Lancaster said: “I am really proud. We set out attacking intent from the start.
“We didn’t get it right in the first half and Leigh Halfpenny punished us but overall I think we were deserving winners.
“We have got a big game next week. We’re in the (title) fight. We have a big game against Italy to come.
“They (Wales) got one over on us last year and that was in the back of our minds as well, but today is our day.”
The victory against Wales also meant England won the Triple Crown following their victories against Scotland and Ireland - the first time they have won the silverware since 2003.
England man-of-the-match Courtney Lawes hailed the side’s growth over the past 12 months following the win.
He said: “We have grown a lot as a team during the year.
“It’s been a long time coming to perform like that and we still left opportunities out there but the boys were great today and we needed that win.
“It is fantastic. It was a great game. They came out hard and we knew from the off it was going to be a battle.”
Wales’ woeful kicking strategy and tendency to concede penalties at regular intervals played into English hands, yet the hosts also possessed the game’s sharpest attacking forces in Care and full-back Mike Brown.
England should arguably have won by more than they did as their impressive upward curve under Lancaster continues, but for Wales, it is back to the drawing board.
Home skipper Robshaw added: “ It’s a massive scalp – we all know what happened last year. We’d lost the last two times we’d played Wales and we needed some momentum back.”
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