England silence Welsh dragons

Six Nations champions England romped to a record win in Cardiff as they outclassed Millennium Stadium fall guys Wales.

Wales plugged away during the closing minutes to try and restore shattered pride but they could find no way through an organised and committed England defence.

In terms of sending warning signals to the rest of Europe, England could hardly have staged a better exhibition in the backyard of Welsh rugby.

They comfortably ran out 44-15 winners, and a stunned capacity Cardiff crowd could only give their acclaim at the end of a hopelessly one-sided encounter.

Centre Will Greenwood scored a hat-trick of tries, two during the first half when England built up an unassailable 29-8 lead.

Scrum-half Matt Dawson also played his part in the rout, grabbing two tries, and his Northampton team-mate Ben Cohen took England past 40 points.

England, who lost wing Dan Luger through injury after just eight minutes, dominated from start to finish.end of a hopelessly one-sided encounter.

Although Wales managed quality scores from scrum-half Rob Howley and number eight Scott Quinnell, the home side were left a demoralised and shell-shocked outfit.

England made light work of their first appearance at the new mecca of Welsh rugby, and with three home games to come at Twickenham it will take a huge power shift for them not to retain their Six Nations title.

On this evidence, the Grand Slam that has eluded them in each of the past two seasons also seems well within their grasp.

Wales' New Zealand coach Graham Henry can rarely have taken such a beating and he now faces a difficult campaign to restore morale.

England, meanwhile, march on towards a Twickenham clash with Italy in two weeks' time when another points fest looks on the cards.

Wales never gave up the ghost but on this occasion they were hopelessly outclassed by a team rightly among the top three in world rugby.