Sweet chariots riding high as English dazzle

In the days to come, Wales will not be alone in having to deal with the repercussions of England's dazzling weekend cross-border raid. Spare a thought not just for Italy as they prepare to visit Twickenham, but for poor old Max Boyce's lyrics - "They'll slide it back when Wales attack so God can watch us play" - about the new stadium's roof. Sorry, Max, but rugby heaven has new earthly representatives and suddenly angels are riding shotgun on England's sweet chariot.

For this, from the pre-match singing beneath blue skies to the thrilling certainty of England's daring first-half thrusts, was as striking a spectacle as the Six Nations championship, or its predecessor, has known. France played out of their skins at Wembley in beating Wales 51-0 to clinch their 1998 Grand Slam but none of the home unions have produced anything as shimmering on an opponent's ground since Wales's 1970s heyday. The impact was not far removed from the All Blacks' destruction of England in the 1995 World Cup semi-final. As in Cape Town, it felt in Cardiff as though partisan sensibilities had been transcended and an entire sport elevated to new heights.

What made it special, even to Welsh eyes in the privileged 72,500 crowd, was the way England wielded the scalpel in the first hour. Here there was no need for a monster like Jonah Lomu on the left wing or even those familiar brutal thrusts from the forwards in midfield. Instead of packing the centre of the pitch, England concentrated their efforts down the flanks, relying on pace and speed of thought. Will Greenwood's hat-trick of tries ensured a record Welsh defeat in Cardiff yet, for once, the home side had little cause to reproach themselves.

The English mood was such that they would not have blinked had Wales' early thrusts yielded a try for Dafydd James, instead of a video-assisted ruling that Ben Cohen had managed downward pressure. From the moment Mike Catt's huge miss-pass to Jonny Wilkinson helped set Greenwood skipping free for the first try after just 12 minutes, their recent try-scoring shackles were gloriously cast aside and the coruscating run and clever pop pass from Iain Balshaw three minutes later which sent the Harlequin centre over in another blaze of peroxide glory merely confirmed all Wales's worst pre-game fears.

To put Greenwood's value to England in perspective, he has now scored 11 tries in his 18 tests, one fewer than Will Carling managed in 72 internationals. Remarkably, too, only three Englishmen in history - Rory Underwood, Jeremy Guscott and Cyril Lowe - have now recorded more test tries than Matt Dawson, who had a high-class tit-for-tat scrum-half duel with Rob Howley after the Welshman made a wonderful clean break between Richard Hill and Phil Vickery to score from 40 metres out.

The first of Dawson's two tries was a typical tap and dive under the radar screen of Chris Wyatt but his second was a rare joy, a double shuffle and shimmy completely flummoxing the Welsh full-back Stephen Jones. Greenwood's hat-trick, from a loop outside Austin Healey, arrived a minute into the second half and Ben Cohen's surge between two gasping Welsh props put England 44-8 ahead inside an hour.

The rest, apart from Scott Quinnell's impressive try from Howley's impudent reverse flick, took place in an almost reverential atmosphere as spectators of all persuasions sat back and drew breath. It is not every side who can almost completely bypass their most obvious area of strength and still prosper so startlingly; not many coaches, either, could also lose a wing of Dan Luger's quality with a neck problem after just seven minutes and whistle up a replacement with even more to offer in a game like this one.

Healey's reaction to losing his starting place is typical of England's quest for excellence. No excuses are tolerated - "I was taking things for granted and not working hard enough on my skills" - and the net result is a collective triumph for Clive Woodward and his management.

They could well have had more than six tries, with Healey predictably unsympathetic about Greenwood's embarrassment - "He could have pulled his pants down and still been a God" - at passing straight into touch with two men outside him. Balshaw, too, could be forgiven the odd casual fumble. He is due to have a scan on a damaged hand today, but Graham Henry will have seen enough to know the Bath man will play an integral part in his Lions plans in Australia. The same may yet apply to all 20 Englishmen who took the field, although Howley, Quinnell, Colin Charvis and Mark Taylor did enough to advance their claims.

The blank look on Neil Jenkins' face as he trotted back having become the first man to 1,000 international points with a simple conversion of Quinnell's try, however, best captured Welsh emotions. It brought to mind Fred Trueman's prediction about any bowler who eclipsed his then-world record of Test match victims - "He'll be bloody tired" - and Jenkins is hinting he may not be around much longer. In many ways it would have been fitting had he remained stuck on 999, given all the Welsh emergencies he has witnessed over the years. As for Italy's prospects on Saturday week, the sirens are already audible.

Wales: S Jones (Llanelli); Thomas (Cardiff; M Jones, Llanelli, 54min), Taylor (Swansea; Bateman; Northampton, 64), Gibbs (Swansea), James (Llanelli); N Jenkins (Cardiff), Howley (Cardiff; Moon, Llanelli, 80); Morris (Swansea; John, Cardiff, 65), McBryde (Llanelli), Young (Cardiff, capt), Gough (Newport), Wyatt (Llanelli; Moore, Swansea, 45), Charvis (Swansea), Williams (Cardiff), Quinnell (Llanelli).

England: Balshaw (Bath; Perry, Bath, 58); Cohen (Northampton), Greenwood (Harlequins), Catt (Bath; Tindall, Bath ,70), Luger (Saracens; Healey, Leicester 7); Wilkinson (Newcastle), Dawson (Northampton); Leonard (Harlequins; Woodman, Gloucester 61), West (Leicester), Vickery (Gloucester), Johnson (Leicester, capt), Grewcock (Saracens), Hill (Saracens), Back (Leicester), Dallaglio (Wasps; Corry, Leicester, 69).

Referee: J Dume (France).