England's number 8 Ben Earl celebrates scoring the team's third try during the Six Nations international rugby union match between England and Wales. Photo / AFP
Henry Arundell marked his return to England’s starting side with a first-half hat-trick of tries as Steve Borthwick’s men launched their bid for the Six Nations title with a 48-7 rout of an outclassed Wales at Twickenham.
England, who last won the Six Nations six years ago, ran in seven tries in total, with Ben Earl and Tom Roebuck also crossing Wales’ line before a penalty try was followed by Tommy Freeman’s late score.
The remainder of England’s points came from the boot of veteran first five George Ford, who was named player of the match after conducting the hosts’ attack in style.
Victory extended England’s winning streak to 12 matches in a row and was a personal triumph for Arundell, who has now scored 11 tries in just 12 internationals.
By contrast, this was Wales’ 22nd defeat in 24 tests and left them still searching for a first win in a Six Nations match since 2023.
Bath wing Arundell featured against Argentina in the bronze final at the 2023 Rugby World Cup but became unavailable for England when he signed for French club Racing 92. The 23-year-old only made his test comeback as a replacement against Fiji in November.
Wales’ cause at a rainswept Twickenham was not helped by Arundell scoring two tries while they were down to 13 men after Nicky Smith and captain Dewi Lake were both sent to the sinbin in quick succession.
Following Ford’s early penalty, England scored their opening try in the eighth minute following a tap penalty off a close-range lineout, with thefirst five’s quick pass sending Arundell in at the corner.
Wales’ problems intensified when prop Smith was shown a yellow card following repeated infringements by the visitors.
And they were down to 13 when hooker Lake was also sinbinned.
England made their two-man advantage count with two more tries.
In the 19th minute, Ford’s excellent cross-kick fell straight into the unmarked Arundell’s arms before an overpowered and undermanned Wales could not stop Earl going over in the left corner despite the best efforts of wing Ellis Mee to tackle the England No 8.
And five minutes before the break, Arundell had his third try.
Wales centre Ben Thomas’ loose pass was picked up off the ground by England counterpart Fraser Dingwall, who released Arundell for a simple score.
Ford’s third successful conversion left England 29-0 ahead at halftime, with the only question now whether they would surpass their 68-14 thrashing of Wales in Cardiff during last season’s Six Nations.
Sale wing Roebuck, who was only called up after Immanuel Feyi-Waboso pulled out with a hamstring injury on Friday, added England’s fifth try early in the second half.
There were more cheers from the Twickenham faithful in the 50th minute when England captain Maro Itoje, who had started the game amongst the replacements following the death of his mother, came off the bench.
However, he was shown a yellow card almost immediately after taking to the field.
Wales avoided the embarrassment of being “nilled” when wing Josh Adams caught fly-half Dan Edwards’ 52nd-minute cross-kick.
Ben Thomas was then sinbinned and Taine Plumtree became the fourth Wales player to be shown a yellow card following a high tackle on Henry Pollock in the 67th minute as the England replacement crossed the line.
French referee Pierre Brousset punished Plumtree’s offence with a penalty try and Freeman’s 79th-minute try completed the scoring.
England continue their quest for a first Grand Slam in a decade away to Scotland, a week on Sunday with Wales at home to France, fresh from an impressive 36-14 defeat of Ireland, a day later.
Italy heaped the pressure on Scotland coach Gregor Townsend, running out deserved 18-15 winners in their Six Nations opener played in atrocious wet conditions in Rome.
The hosts led throughout the match, taking the initiative from the start with two tries inside the opening 15 minutes.
Townsend, who had his head in his hands at the final whistle, has had his future cast into doubt after a series of poor results.
Italy landed the first blow in the seventh minute with Louis Lynagh running on to touch down Juan Ignacio Brex’s sublime grubber kick, which caught out the Scottish defence.
Centre Brex let out a huge roar of joy and celebrated with a clash of chests with halfback Alessandro Fusco.
Paolo Garbisi’s conversion attempt from wide on the right hit the post and bounced away.
Lynagh, the son of former Australia great Michael, played a crucial role in the second try, brilliantly taking an up and under, besting Scottish fullback Tom Jordan in the duel.
The ball was worked out to the left wing where centre Tommaso Menoncello ran in unopposed.
Garbisi made no mistake this time round for a 12-0 lead in the 14th minute.
The Scots knew from previous bitter experience that a 12-point lead is not impossible to overhaul – they had led Italy by that much only to lose two years ago.
Scotland, decked out in a striking pink strip, brightened their mood when No 8 Jack Dempsey landed a counter-punch, beating two defenders to go over, as Finn Russell converted to reduce the arrears to 12-7 in the 25th minute.
Italy weathered that storm and Garbisi added a penalty as halftime loomed for 15-7.
The rain had stopped when they re-emerged for the second half, although it was only a brief hiatus.
Almost immediately from the restart, the Scots were fortunate to escape further punishment.
Menoncello skipped through the puddles, his boots sending rain spraying to left and right, only to be brought to ground with the tryline in sight.
That brought the Scots some respite, and they pulled within five points when Russell slotted over a penalty for 15-10 in the 46th minute.
But Garbisi soon restored the eight-point gap with a penalty.
Scotland’s catalogue of errors continued unabated as Russell’s kickoff went out on the full and then the visitors conceded a penalty at the ensuing scrum.
Just when it looked like the Scots might reduce the deficit – after being awarded another penalty – it was flipped on its head with Ben O’Keeffe waving a yellow card at replacement hooker George Turner for foul play.
However, with just over 12 minutes remaining, smiles returned to Scottish faces as George Horne raced over in the corner for his 12th try for his country.
Russell was unable to land the conversion from wide out on the right, leaving the visitors trailing by just three points.
However, despite being deep in Italian territory in the final phase of play, Scotland were penalised and the hosts raised their arms after a deserved victory.