It was 12 years ago that England came here chasing the grand slam. It was Stuart Lancaster’s second Six Nations in charge and though an unconvincing home victory over Italy had come the week before, hopes were high that England could seal a first clean sweep since 2003. They ended up being beaten so emphatically, that some of the Wales players were discussing where in town they would celebrate their 30-3 win – which earned them the title, snatched out of England’s grasp – during the second half.
So poor were England that numerous members of the side played their way out of the British & Irish Lions squad to tour Australia. Warren Gatland was on sabbatical from Wales at the time, Rob Howley in temporary charge, but the New Zealander put great stock in how players performed in hostile atmospheres away from home and based on the evidence of their limp surrender, a number of England players were suddenly out of contention.
Fast forward to the present day, with the next tour of Australia looming large, and you suspect a number of England players have had their names inked into the squad after dishing out a record battering to Wales in Cardiff. It drove Wales to lower ebb with their most ruthless performance under Steve Borthwick.
At this stage, it is important to note that this is really not a very good Wales side, barely a shadow of that 2013 team. This is an ordinary outfit, utterly broken long before full-time here. Indeed, perhaps the most impressive thing about England’s performance was the unfussiness of it. The routine, no-nonsense, fly-swatting nature of the display but piling on the misery in the second half. Ultimately, England were devastating.
The Lions coach, Andy Farrell, was spotted taking his morning coffee in the Cardiff arcades a few hours before the masses descended. He has much to ponder and arguably his two biggest decisions are the captaincy and his fly-half contingent. Maybe things are beginning to crystallise a touch now.
This was just Maro Itoje’s fifth match as England’s leader, but he has proven that on what will be his third Lions tour, he deserves the honour above all else. Before this match Itoje had promised “aggression” and “ruthlessness” but with it a clarity of mind. From the kick-off he delivered all three. It was his try in the third minute, spotting the opportunity and shifting Alex Mitchell out of his way to clinically take it. We will never know if his intervention – marching off England’s line to speak to the referee Nic Berry – played a part in ruling out Blair Murray’s try but it evidently didn’t hurt.
When England lost Ollie Chessum to injury midway through the first half, with no obvious lock cover on the bench, they might have panicked but there was Itoje, reassuring Chandler Cunningham-South as he came on to the pitch. Indeed, whenever the camera was on England’s captain he could be seen calmly but assuredly talking players through the game. It paid off to the extent that while England had not scored four tries in a Six Nations game here since 2001, they had done so before half-time on Saturday. They showed no fear in the face of the vaunted Cardiff hostility, just got on with their jobs in ruthless fashion and Itoje takes great credit for that. Indeed, he has shown himself to be an unflappable leader, and the fact that he does not play for Ireland could actually work to his advantage.
One or two of Ireland’s players may be fearing for their places after their stuttering win over Italy but Farrell will still pick a sizeable number of them and having a captain from a different country will help bring all four nations together. Their captain Caelan Doris was the frontrunner not so long ago but his stock fell after the thumping defeat by France and he has a habit of rubbing referees up the wrong way. Itoje has taken far longer than expected to grow into the England captain he was tipped to become but Farrell must recognise his time is now.
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Beyond Itoje, the number of other England players to put themselves in contention is sizeable. Can Farrell find room for both Curry brothers and Ben Earl? Maybe not Henry Pollock just yet, despite an eye-catching cameo on debut but his time will come. At fly-half, however, he has to select Fin Smith, who has enjoyed a superb tournament since being handed the keys to No 10 and here was another polished performance, teeing up first-half tries for Tom Roebuck with a delightfully floated pass, and another for Tommy Freeman. He was always looking for Roebuck, finding the England winger with another excellent cross-kick, and again, he held up superbly well in defence with Taulupe Faletau in particular running down his channel.
Farrell is known to rate Prendergast highly but surely Smith is ahead of him and his compatriot Jack Crowley now. Finn Russell is still the leading contender for the Test No 10 jersey but there is a strong argument that Smith is second in line. For such was England’s dominance that a Super Saturday in Cardiff is set to be decisive for a Lions tour in Australia once more.