Wales 14-68 England: Record-breaking 10-try Six Nations thrashing by visitors in Cardiff

Henry Pollock scored two tries on debut as England thrashed Wales to keep their slim Six Nations title hopes alive

England held up their end of the bargain in the Six Nations title race with a merciless 68-14 victory over Wales in Cardiff only for France to go on and crown themselves champions.

Steve Borthwick's team finished in second place following France's 35-16 bonus-point victory over Scotland in Paris having condemned Wales to a second successive Six Nations wooden spoon.

Ireland's victory in Italy earlier on Super Saturday had seen them climb into top spot, but England's 10-try thrashing of Wales saw them leapfrog the former champions to emerge as the main rivals to champions-elect France.

England secured the bonus point they needed before half-time thanks to five tries from Maro Itoje, Tom Roebuck, Tommy Freeman, Chandler Cunningham-South and Will Stuart, and repeated the feat in the second half, with Alex Mitchell, Joe Heyes, a double from debutant Henry Pollock and another from Cunningham-South adding five more.

A try in either half from Ben Thomas proved scant consolation for Wales and departing interim head coach Matt Sherratt as a sobering 17th straight Test defeat - a record for a tier one nation in the professional era.

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Ruthless England run amok in Cardiff

It took just three minutes for England to find the opening score, captain Itoje touching down from the base of a ruck after influential fly-half Fin Smith had kicked a penalty to the corner in an early statement of intent.

Wales' Blair Murray dives over for his disallowed try

Wales looked to have produced a scintillating response when full-back Blair Murray raced clear and over in the corner but, following protracted deliberations from the match officials, the try was ruled out after Tomos Williams was adjudged to have interfered from an offside position.

England took full advantage of their reprieve, Roebuck capping his first Test start with an imperious score in the corner after gathering Fin Smith's miss pass.

Tom Roebuck marked his first England start with a try

After an unsuccessful kicked penalty to the corner, Gareth Anscombe's touchfinder at the second attempt provided Wales with the platform to mount their response, with Thomas crashing over to get the hosts on the board.

But it only provoked a merciless response from England as Freeman, Cunningham-South and Stuart all punched through the Welsh defence in the final six minutes of the half to secure a 26-point lead at the break.

Tommy Freeman cotninued his Six Nations try-scoring run in Cardiff

Wales reinforced the floodgates to an extent after the restart but failed time and again to reduce the arrears, notably squandering a three-on-one when Elliot Mee went alone, offloaded off the turf and forced Max Llewellyn and Aaron Wainwright to knock-on into the in-goal area.

Scrum-half Mitchell got the scoreboard ticking again for England on 55 minutes, scampering over after the ball cannoned off the head of Elliot Daly in the tackle.

Alex Mitchell scored the first of five second-half tries for England

Debutant Pollock gathered a sublime miss pass from substitute George Ford to join the club of England try-scorers on debut, and after Heyes had touched down and Thomas scored his and Wales' second, the Northampton flanker and Cunningham-South grabbed their second to add further salt to Welsh wounds.

'Our responsibility to get as many on Lions plane'

England head coach Steve Borthwick: "The team has been progressing. We challenged them to go out and play, we wanted them to play big - and they did exactly that.

"I get the privilege of coaching this young group of players. I think this has got the makings of being a very good team."

On England's British and Irish Lions prospects, Borthwick added: "We said part of our responsibility is to get as many of them on that Lions plane as possible. Andy (Farrell) has got some difficult decisions to make and they are good headaches."

Chandler Cunningham-South and captain Maro Itoje celebrate England's victory in Cardiff

Wales interim head coach Matt Sherratt: "It's a very difficult one to reflect on, especially now because the emotions are quite raw.

"Probably my overwhelming feeling is just really disappointed for the players, they're a good group of people and they deserve more.

"It's been a tough 18 months, and you could probably see today it was a body blow too many."

Sherratt reaffirmed his commitment to Cardiff when asked if he wanted the vacant Wales job, adding: "No, nothing has changed for me there, I'll be back in Cardiff on Monday preparing them."

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