If France set the standard with a crushing opening win over Ireland, England have proven they are the main rivals for the Six Nations crown.
Saturday’s emphatic 48-7 win over Wales marked a milestone at the start of the tournament as England look to take the next step towards victory under Steve Borthwick.
England brought a level of brutality, both offensively and defensively, that the Welsh team could not suppress.
World-class scrum-halves Tomos Williams and Louis Rees-Zammit, deployed at fullback in their first Six Nations appearance since returning from the NFL, were neutralized and neutralized, leaving Wales defenseless against the resulting attack.
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England manager Steve Borthwick was full of praise for Henry Arundell after his Six Nations hat-trick against rivals Wales.
England’s advantage was asserted at a canter without needing to go beyond second gear. They plundered 48 points and everyone inside the Allianz Stadium agreed that they could and should have had more.
“We are very pleased with the result and I think we performed well overall,” said England flyhalf and man of the match George Ford.
“There’s a bit of frustration in that too. We wanted a good start, a decent performance and we got that. But today we probably left a little bit left.”
Henry Arundell scored a first-half hat-trick in England’s Six Nations opener against Wales.
Tandy regrets the ‘self-inflicted’ part of the loss.
A beleaguered Wales arrived at Twickenham with unprecedentedly low expectations given the off-field chaos engulfing Welsh rugby.
On the pitch, they hastened their downfall with a hectic first quarter beset by disciplinary issues.
In 21 minutes, Wales conceded 10 penalties and had leading players Nicky Smith and Dewi Lake sent to the sin-bin.
England were 12 points up and Wales were 13 points down, extinguishing any hopes of an unexpected comeback.
“We were really frustrated,” coach Steve Tandy said. “We had a great time working with the group during the fall season, but today we are even more disappointed with ourselves.
“A lot of it was self-inflicted. We felt we were in a good position, but if we got four yellow cards and were very inaccurate with the ball and lost, we were always going to be behind on the scoreboard.
“It’s part of the game, it’s part of the journey to get where we need to go. We’re where we are for a reason.
“At the end of the day we were really disappointed with our performance tonight. England are in a really good position but we were bitterly disappointed.”
Steve Borthwick is adamant England can improve despite beating Wales seven times in their Six Nations opener.
Borthwick argues there is a lot of room for improvement.
England’s challenge before the Six Nations was clear. They face France in the fifth round in Paris with the Grand Slam still on the table.
But looking too far into the future is a sure way to derail their ambitions. There are more difficult challenges ahead than Wales, especially starting with Saturday’s trip to Murrayfield.
England may be in the Calcutta Cup as hosts and Scotland may be reeling from an 18-15 loss to Italy, but England have not won in Edinburgh since 2020.
That win came two years before Borthwick was appointed and the England manager outlined a number of areas needing improvement ahead of the trip to Murrayfield.
“Defensively we were great,” he said. “We knew Wales had too many dangerous players and they were going wide and we beat them really well.
“Our kicking game was good and our set-pieces were good, but there is a lot of room for improvement. What I was really pleased with was that we created a lot of chances and were able to convert them better.
“Especially in the second half we didn’t convert our chances the way I wanted to. There’s a lot we need to continue to work on.”
England’s 2026 Six Nations fixtures
Always UK and Ireland
- England 48-7 Wales (Saturday 7 February) – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham (4.40pm)
- vs Scotland (Saturday 14 February) – Murrayfield (4.40pm)
- vs Ireland (Saturday February 21) – Twickenham Allianz Stadium (2.10pm)
- vs Italy (Saturday, March 7) – Rome Olympic Stadium (4:40 p.m.)
- vs France (Saturday, March 14) – Stade de France, Paris (8:10 p.m.)
