After such a rousing rendition of the anthem, Wales were hard-pressed not to begin the match in inspired fashion, attacking down both wings to stress-test the feted English defence.
Wales even forced England into an error in the visitors’ in-goal area, fly-half Zoe Harrison dropping the ball as she sought to make a clearance kick. From there, Wales had a 5m scrum, and a second pick-and-go was grounded by tighthead Jenni Scoble to the delight of the majority of this record-breaking crowd of 21,186 people.
Scrum-half Keira Bevan converted for a 7-0 lead within the opening ten minutes.
The joy was short-lived for Wales when, after forcing wing Lisa Neumann into touch, the Red Roses swiftly won their lineout ball and number eight Maddie Feaunati galloped away untouched for a try. Harrison converted to level the scores.
A matter of minutes later it was sidestepping outside centre Megan Jones running in a try without a finger laid on her, with Harrison adding the extras again.
The 20-minute mark was coming into view when England overthrew their lineout on Wales’ 5m line. It didn’t affect the outcome for them, however, as the ball eventually found Sarah Bern, the tighthead touching down under the posts.
Feaunati then underlined her status as one of the early contenders as England’s standout players of the campaign when she went over for her second try of the match – Abby Dow having just been disallowed one of her own for a forward pass. Harrison kicked her third conversion, and the Red Roses were beginning to flex their muscles: 7-26.
Fullback Ellie Kildunne was next on the scoreboard, celebrating her 50th cap with a short, scorching effort down the left wing that completely evaded Neumann. The conversion from Harrison was good: 7-33.
It didn’t take long for the roving Kildunne to repeat the feat, this time on the opposite wing. Harrison wasn’t, but it was only down to the left upright that her conversion attempt failed.
Kildunne had barely caught her breath when she scored the most impressive of her hat-trick of tries thus far: outsprinting the Welsh defence to gather a kick-behind from Jess Breach.
Despite England getting a huge shove on Wales’ scrum just outside the visitors’ 22, the home side broke from the back and up the left, where wing Carys Cox passed back inside for blindside Kate Williams to score a try that got the Welsh fans on their feet.
The Red Roses then went beyond the 50-point mark when replacement Abi Burton, on for her debut and whose journey to this point has been nothing short of remarkable, burst over for a converted try: 12-55.
It was then Dow’s turn again to further burnish the English score, although the post once again proved would-be converter Harrison’s enemy: 12-60.
Abby Dow would have been disappointed not to have scored for an hour, such is her prolific strike rate, but the winger atoned for that leading up to the final ten minutes, taking a wonderful cross-field kick from Harrison in acres of space to touch down: 12-48.
The Red Roses then went beyond the 50-point mark when replacement Abi Burton, on for her debut and whose journey to this point has been nothing short of remarkable, burst over for a converted try: 12-55.
It was then Dow’s turn again to further burnish the English score, although the post once again proved would-be converter Harrison’s enemy: 12-60.
Burton was making the most of her time on the pitch, and moments before the final whistle had crossed for her second try to seal a truly dominant performance in front of a lively audience.
This was England’s 31st consecutive win in the Championship, and they were good for it.
Guinness Player of the Match: Ellie Kildunne (England)
Wales: 15 Jasmine Joyce (Bristol Bears); 14 Lisa Neumann (Harlequins); 13 Hannah Jones ( Captain, Gloucester/Hartpury), 12 Kayleigh Powell (Harlequins); 11 Carys Cox (Ealing Trailfinders); 10 Lleucu George (Gloucester/Hartpury), 9 Keira Bevan (Vice-captain, Bristol Bears); 1 Gwenllian Pyrs (Sale Sharks), 2 Carys Phillips (Harlequins), 3 Jenni Scoble (Gwalia Lightning); 4 Abbie Fleming (Harlequins), 5 Gwen Crabb (Gloucester/Hartpury); 6 Kate Williams (Gloucester/Hartpury), 7 Bethan Lewis (Gloucester/Hartpury), 8 Georgia Evans (Saracens)
Replacements: 16 Kelsey Jones (Gloucester/Hartpury), 17 Maisie Davies (Gwalia Lightning), 18 Donna Rose (Saracens), 19 Alaw Pyrs (Gwalia Lightning), 20 Bryonie King (Gwalia Lightning), 21 Meg Davies (Gloucester/Hartpury), 22 Courtney Keight (Bristol Bears), 23 Nel Metcalfe (Gloucester/Hartpury).
England: 15 Ellie Kildunne (Harlequins); 14 Abby Dow (Trailfinders Women); 13 Megan Jones (Leicester Tigers), 12 Tatyana Heard (Gloucester-Hartpury); 11 Jess Breach (Saracens, 43 caps); 10 Zoe Harrison (Saracens), 9 Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury); 1 Mackenzie Carson (Gloucester-Hartpury), 2 Lark Atkin-Davies (Bristol Bears), 3 Sarah Bern (Bristol Bears); 4 Morwenna Talling (Sale Sharks), 5 Abbie Ward (Bristol Bears, 70 caps); 6 Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury) (captain), 7 Sadia Kabeya (Loughborough Lightning), 8 Maddie Feaunati (Exeter Chiefs)
Replacements 16 Amy Cokayne (Leicester Tigers), 17 Hannah Botterman (Bristol Bears), 18 Maud Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury), 19 Rosie Galligan (Saracens), 20 Abi Burton (Trailfinders Women) 21 Lucy Packer (Harlequins) 22 Holly Aitchison (Bristol Bears) 23 Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning)