Immortality beckons for England’s history men
JONATHAN Joseph scored a scintillating hat-trick of tries to spearhead an England win which left Scotland's hopes of a Triple Crown spreadeagled as the home side hit the jackpot.
Eddie Jones' men not only retained the Championship, winning the 2017 Six Nations outright, but they did it with a record Calcutta Cup victory, scoring seven tries in the process.
The records kept ticking over, as they also equalled New Zealand's record haul of 18 consecutive wins, and will stretch it to 19 if they can beat Ireland in Dublin on Saturday to claim a second consecutive Grand Slam.
A mere footnote is that this win over the Scots was England's second highest score in any Championship match.
If that roll call requires a pause for breath, it was more than England allowed the Scots. This was the performance England had been promising, and they delivered it with a blistering start which left the visitors shell-shocked, and was in stark contrast to the meandering path they had taken in their three previous matches in the tournament.
If Joseph was the executioner- in-chief the Scots did themselves no favours when Fraser Brown was sin-binned in the opening minute for a dump-tackle on Elliot Daly. The Scottish hooker was fortunate that it was not red given that he upended Daly and drove him into the turf despite the wing having already sent Maro Itoje galloping down the touchline.
Daly went of for a head injury check, and although he came back briefly he was soon replaced permanently by Anthony Watson With Scotland a man down the home side were ruthless in their execution as they went on the attack from the penalty kick to touch. From the line-out the ball was whipped to George Ford, and when the fly-half 's pass found Joseph it was as if the Scots' midfield backs had trodden in quicksand.
Joseph's acceleration was so instantaneous that he was through the small gap between Alex Dunbar and Huw Jones in a nanosecond, levering himself off Dunbar's shoulder to signal his departure for the Scottish line 30 metres away.
England's Electric Eel had struck, and a finish that was stunning in every sense saw Owen Farrell convert for a 7-0 lead with just two minutes played. A stray Scottish hand in a ruck a few minutes later saw the English marksman make it 10-0, and the Scots indiscipline cost them again just before the quarter hour when Farrell made it 13-0.
Scotland's early woes were compounded when their attacking talisman, Stuart Hogg, was forced to sit out the rest of the match on the sidelines following a head injury assessment.
The fates conspired against them again when Hogg's replacement, Mark Bennett, was stretchered off with a leg injury after only three minutes in the fray, hurt scrambling back in defence.
To make matters worse Finn Russell, who had already showed his nerves by failing to find touch with a penalty, threw a suicidal pass across the face of his own posts which resulted in a Scots knock-on, which, if Joseph had been able to snare it, would have cost them another try.
However, it was not long before it went properly pear-shaped for the visitors with Joseph producing another magical finish in the 24th minute. The tuneup that Jones had given the Bath centre by leaving him out of the match 23 for the Italy game had sharpened him to a point, as he showed when, from a Nathan Hughes line-out tap, the conjuring of Farrell and Ford opened another gap for him.
As Joseph raced through he was confronted by Scotland's powerhouse wing Tim Visser, but a quick shimmy wrong-footed the big man leaving the outside- centre to score unchallenged between the posts.
Although Farrell added the extras to make it 20-0, Scotland were finally coming out of shock, and when they got their first attacking foothold of the game they made it pay.
They came round the corner from a line-out drive, and Gordon Reid barged through Ben Youngs for the first of three Scottish tries.
No sooner had Russell converted to give the scoreline a semblance of respectability than side entry by Jonny Gray saw Farrell push England out to 23-7. Their superior power in the forward exchanges, with Courtney Lawes, Itoje and Hughes leading the charge, was beginning to take its toll on the Scots.
Furthermore, with the Scottish midfield defence of Russell, Dunbar and Jones looking befuddled, they knew where to strike.
When a Lawes line-out was moved wide the smooth Ford-Farrell link saw Joseph shoot through, evade the defence with his in-out footwork, and when Watson came up on his shoulder he sent him racing clear for England's third try.
Farrell's conversion gave England a 30-7 lead at the break, and at that juncture the task facing Scotland looked insurmountable — and things did not get easier with England going into overdrive to secure the bonus point at the start of the second-half.
It was fitting that it was Joseph who delivered it, along with his own hattrick, by rounding off an assault – started by a Hughes burst – by coming late on a diagonal run to take Youngs scoring pass and cut past the hapless Russell.
With Farrell converting and then adding a penalty to make it 40-7 six minutes into the second-half the game was up for Scotland.
Although they hit back with a well-taken try by Jones to make it 40-14, with Billy Vunipola coming on to a huge cheer to mark his first England appearance since he was injured in the autumn, there was no respite.
When Big Billy battered his way over from a five metre line-out drive just before the hour it had become a triumphal march for England, and although Scotland gritted their teeth to carve out another score for Jones, the white wave kept coming.
They were eventually swamped when Danny Care scored two late tries to clinch the Championship in style.
Now all that remains is to add the finishing touches in Dublin to win a second consecutive Six Nations Slam, and set a new worldrecord winning run.
All that remains? It will be a huge challenge against an Ireland side not just champing at the bit to make amends for their defeat in Cardiff, but desperate to rain on England's parade.
Eddie Jones' side will also have to cope with the weight of English expectation – but the prize is to take their place among English rugby immortals.
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