England close in on grand slam

Unless spaghetti really does grow on trees or Scotland are planning the most elaborate con trick in rugby history, England can surely not be stopped now. After this savage birching of Wales only academic questions would appear to remain.

Is `grand slam' the best way to describe a Six Nations clean sweep, for example, or should we start referring to a `high five'? It might be a touch insensitive to describe England's forthcoming grand tour to Rome and Edinburgh as a glorified lap of honour but on Saturday they resembled Monopoly millionaires, determined to covering every square inch of the board with hotels. And the Welsh? Most were puffing by the time they reached Old Kent Road and never came close to passing `Go'.

The final margin equalled the record 34-point divide in this fixture two years ago and England could, perhaps should, have collected eight tries rather than a mere five. In terms of precision this was in some ways their least notable game of the year - "in the first 20-30 minutes we were technically poor," insisted Lawrence Dallaglio - but the collective elan of the home side will haunt the forlorn Welsh for some time.

Somewhere, sometime, England will slot every piece together against world-class opposition and frighten everyone, maybe even themselves. They were helped here by some gormless Welsh discipline which cost Garin Jenkins and Scott Quinnell spells in the sin-bin, but last month's win in Paris has hatched the sort of confidence reminiscent of the great Welsh sides of the 70s, for whom losing was also never an option. "In terms of ambition it was fantastic, but in terms of execution we'll probably be a bit disappointed," stressed Woodward, awarding his side an ominous mark of "six out of 10".

For a microcosm of Wales's discomfort, the sight of Jason Leonard taking a quick tap penalty after the Welsh had vainly recycled the ball 19 times was as good as any. They took a battering in the penalty count and, for all Graham Henry's praise of England's efforts, looked doomed at half-time even when trailing just 19-12. "We needed 24 players, not 14," admitted Henry, referring to England's numerical advantage for 20 minutes of the second half.

It is a harsh but instructive exercise on the back of two Celtic visits to London this season which yielded a collective aggregate score of 96-30, to query how many non-Englishmen would make a Lions Test side picked this morning. The back row, at the very least, would be a definite shoo-in and Woodward was not limiting himself to loose forwards when he described Lawrence Dallaglio, Neil Back and Richard Hill afterwards as "three of the best players in the world".

All three left second-half calling cards, a collective triptych of signature efforts. Back, marauding wide on the right, crashed over in the 53rd minute with Wales reduced to 14 men by Jenkins' sin-binning, the unflashy Hill stole away off the side of a Welsh maul to score unopposed under the posts and Dallaglio's scrum pick-up and Sherman-tank impression past Neil Jenkins and Mark Taylor was the sort of spectacle which makes small boys rush in search of their fathers.

Phil Vickery, seeking a little light relief from his awkward scrummaging battle with Peter Rogers, could be found throwing dummies and spin passes and Phil Greening, voted man of the match for much more than his first-half try, was a perpetual jinking, driving menace.

Some careless backline passing apart, the white canvas was plastered with bold brush strokes for a third game in a row.

Ben Cohen's try three minutes from the end illustrated the transformation as much as anything, Matt Perry's fine defensive catch, Austin Healey's knifing break and the young winger's 40-metre dash to the line proving England had skill, in addition to gas, to burn. "In the changing room at half-time the guys weren't blowing which was a sign they weren't working hard enough," revealed Matt Dawson.

In contrast, the Welsh fitness guru Steve Black spoke of his frustration at the decline in his charges' fitness levels since they returned to their clubs after the World Cup. Like Henry, though, he was impressed by England. "I think that's the best international side we've played in the 18 months I've been around," he said.

Jonny Wilkinson will be thrilled as much by his 21 points as seeing his passing compared to Mark Ella's by the admiring former Wallaby coach Bob Dwyer yesterday and England's two summer Tests in South Africa, far from being irritating appendages, suddenly loom as potential crackers.

Given that Wales stuck almost 50 points on Italy last month, the trip to Rome on Saturday week appears appreciably more straightforward, clearing the way for some fun and games at Murrayfield on April 2nd.

Every 10 years England seem to head north on a similar mission and 1980's successful outcome will be more appealing to Woodward, who played in it, than the 1990 debacle. As for Wales, always slaves to history, the speed at which the visiting players went hunting for souvenir white jerseys at the final whistle probably depressed their supporters more than anything.

Their captain Dai Young's back injury is likely to keep him out of the game against the Scots at the Millennium Stadium and Wembley '99 already feels like a century ago. It is their oldest rivals who are once more clutching all the cards.

Matt Pini, Italy's full back, looks certain to miss the meeting with England in Rome next week after damaging his shoulder during the first half of the defeat at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.

Scorers: England: Tries: Greening, Back, Hill, Dallaglio, Cohen. Cons: Wilkinson 3. Pens: Wilkinson 5. Wales: Pens: N. Jenkins 3. Drop Goals: N. Jenkins.

England: M Perry; A Healey, M Tindall, M Catt, B Cohen; J Wilkinson, M Dawson; J Leonard, P Greening, P Vickery, G Archer, S Shaw, R Hill, N Back, L Dallaglio. Replacements: M Corry for Shaw (74 mins). Not Used: I Balshaw, A King, A Gomarsall, J Worsley, T Woodman, N McCarthy.

Wales: S Howarth; G Thomas, A Bateman, M Taylor, S Williams; N Jenkins, R Howley; P Rogers, G Jenkins, D Young, C Quinnell, C Wyatt, C Charvis, B Sinkinson, S Quinnell. Replacements: B Williams for G Jenkins (72 mins), S John for Young (24 mins), I Gough for C Quinnell (64 mins). Not Used: M Williams, R Smith, S Jones, M Cardey. Sin Bin: G Jenkins (46 mins), S Quinnell (69 mins). Att: 73,500.

Referee: Jim Fleming (Scotland).