England 27 Wales 13
England maintained their 100 per cent record under the stewardship of Eddie Jones with a convincing 27-13 victory in a fast, open encounter at Twickenham. The Six Nations grand slam champions scored five tries to boost squad morale ahead of their departure for a three-Test tour to Australia.
Wales, in contrast, will fly out to face New Zealand in thoughtful mood, knowing the margin of defeat could have been even wider against an England side missing 10 players involved in the previous day's Premiership play-off final. George Ford missed four conversions and two penalties but tries from Luther Burrell, Anthony Watson, Ben Youngs, Jack Clifford and Marland Yarde ensured it did not matter.
Wales had looked the sharper side to begin with, taking the early initiative when prop Rob Evans crashed over to reward a sustained period of pressure. Dan Biggar added the conversion and a subsequent penalty to give the visitors a 10-0 lead.
The powerful Burrell struck back for England at the end of the first quarter but Ford, assuming the kicking duties in the absence of Owen Farrell, missed his first two kicks at goal. Biggar, in contrast, slotted a third penalty before a 33nd-minute try by Watson trimmed the half-time deficit to 13-10.
Two tries in the space of three minutes early in the third quarter transformed the contest, Youngs smartly dummying his way over and Clifford seizing on a loose ball knocked backwards by Dan Cole to race 50 metres.
As in last autumn's World Cup pool game against the same opponents it left England with a healthy lead to defend; this time they proved more than equal to the challenge. Guardian Service
ENGLAND: Brown, Watson, Joseph, Burrell, Yarde, Ford, Youngs, Mullan, Hartley, Cole, Launchbury, Lawes, Harrison, Haskell, Clifford. Replacements: Daly for Joseph (65 mins), Devoto for Ford (75 mins), Care for Youngs (55 mins), Genge for Mullan (65 mins), Taylor for Hartley (76 mins), Hill for Cole (68 mins), Attwood for Lawes (62 mins), Kvesic for Haskell (62 mins). WALES: L. Williams, North, S. Williams, Roberts, Amos, Biggar, Webb, Evans, Baldwin, Lee, Ball, A. Jones, Moriarty, Lydiate, Faletau. Replacements: Anscombe for S Williams (55 mins), Priestland for Biggar (55 mins), L Williams for Webb (65 mins), Jenkins for Evans (55 mins), Dacey for Baldwin (55 mins), R Jones for Lee (62 mins), Turnbull for A Jones (57 mins), King for Lydiate (23 mins). Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy).
