A ruthless England romped to the biggest Test victory in history, as they hammered hapless Romania 134-0 at Twickenham, with only the width of the goalpost preventing debutant Charlie Hodgson from an individual world record points haul.
England's 20-try humiliation of an outclassed Romanian side eclipses the 145-17 demolition by New Zealand of Japan in the 1995 Rugby World Cup, a game which also produced Simon Culhane's world-record 45-point individual tally.
Sale Sharks' exhuberant fly-half Charlie Hodgson had to be content with a mere 44-point total, watching on in agony as his last-minute touchline conversion attempt rebounded of the left hand upright.
Hodgson's 44 points came courtesy of two first-half tries, 14 conversions and two penalties, but a missed conversion attempt right in front of the posts earlier on will surely come back to haunt him as he looks back on his chance of a world record on an otherwise dream debut.
His Sale clubmate Jason Robinson helped himself to four tries, with hat-tricks for Ben Cohen and Dan Luger, braces for Hodgson, Lewis Moody and Mike Tindall, and one each for Austin Healey, Alex Sanderson, Mark Regan and Joe Worsley.
Equally impressive for England was their clean sheet in defence, but with the game petering out into an embarassing one-sided spectacle, what have the English really learnt from an 80-minutes which was no more competitive than Lennox Lewis relentessly pounding a defenceless punchbag?
They never went more than six minutes without scoring, and were 72-0 up by the break, the Romanians' sole contribution to proceedings being their one attack under the England posts early into the match.
The plus points for England were the distribution and thought of Hodgson at No.10, who linked well with the pack, and had the composure and knowhow to sniff out the numerous gaps in the visitors' defence.
The lightning way with which Jason Robinson converted his chances into tries bodes well for the visit of South Africa next Saturday, with Robinson's second score seeing a weaving 70-metre run ending in lightning fashion under the posts after a passage of play more reminiscent of a punt return in American football than a rugby move.
Ben Kay in the second-row threw a marker down for Martin Johnson's No.4 shirt with another immense display, and Lewis Moody was efficiency personified in open play, barging over two tries in the first half before leaving the field.
Romania twice had the chance to register on the Twickenham scoreboard -- which could not cope with the three-figure England tally -- but they gamely turned down easy shots at goal from the penalty, going instead for ultimately fruitless lineouts, as the England pack policed the gain line with composure and ease.
Dan Luger on the left wing had to wait until the very last minute for his hat-trick try, with Hodgson's cut-out pass flat-footing the Romanians, as the Harlequins flyer raced into the left corner.
The 10 tries in the first half ensured that the game as a spectacle was over within the opening minutes, and the fixture schedulers need to take a long hard look at themselves and the current state of Romanian rugby, in deciding whether or not this televised humiliation is the best way to advance the game in the nation.
But what will next week's opposition South Africa garner from this virtual unopposed training session ahead of their trip to Twickenham?
For one, England showed their utter ruthlessness in turning nearly every single half break into some sort of score, and also demonstrated that the absence of some of their frontline players will not send tremors through a squad whose strength in depth is an apt measure of the current healthy state of the English domestic game.
The ghosts of their Six Nations nightmare in Dublin have been exorcised. Roll on the Springboks.
Man of the match: Charlie Hodgson. Maybe a cop-out to automatically choose the major points-scorer, but debuts don't come much better than this. Not only was his goal-kicking mainly impressive, but his passing off either hand showed his rugby brain in full flight. Managing the backline with consumate ease, his armchair ride against a comparatively feeble Romania pack demonstrated he has the bottle to handle the England shirt, although tougher outings in future may be the true test of his composure. Jason Robinson should think himself unlucky to miss the award after a magnificent finishing display, and Ben Kay and Lewis Moody to name only a few, were simply immense in the pack
Moment of the match: Robinson's second try. Picking the ball up in his own half, the Sale fullback scuttled toward the left wing at pace, flat-footing the retreating Romanian defence before cutting back inside in the opposition half, dropping two superb Phil Bennett Barbarian-esque sidesteps on his course to the line, accelerating under the posts for one of the most spectacular tries recently seen at Twickenham.
Villain of the match: The fixture schedulers. This humiliating spectacle should never have happened. The RFU heirarchy have expressed their willingness to forward the development of Romanian rugby, and cannot be blamed in the least for this horrendous mis-match, but surely there must be a better way for their currently deteriorating national team to further their standards. Perhaps they should be fielded in the Parker Pen Shield, similarly to the way in which Holland and Ireland are featured in English cricket's cup competition, although the implications for Romanian players contracted to other European teams may make this unworkable. Answers need to be found though, as more embarassments like this are undoubtedly futile exercises, and a backward step.
Referee: Pablo Deluca (Argentina)
Touch judges: Paddy O’Brien (NZ), David McHugh (Ire)
England: 1 Jason Leonard, 2 Mark Regan, 3 Graham Rowntree, 4 Lock Ben Kay, 5 Steve Borthwick, 6 Neil Back (c), 7 Lewis Moody, 8 Joe Worsley, 9 Austin Healey, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 11 Dan Luger, 12 Will Greenwood, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Jason Robinson
Reserves: Kyran Bracken, Mike Catt, Danny Grewcock, Alex Sanderson, Julian White
Unused: Dorian West, Jonny Wilkinson
Romania: 1 Nicolae Dragos Dima, 2 Petre Balan, 3 Marcel Socaciu, 4 Vasile Nedelcu, 5 RPE5, 6 Florin Corodeanu, 7 Valentin Samuil, 8 Alin Petrache, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 10 Ionut Tofan, 11 Vasile Ghoic, 12 Flaviu Dobre, 13 Nicolae Oprea, 14 Ion Teodorescu, 15 Gabriel Brezoianu
Reserves: Mihai Ciolacu, Marius Dragomir, Silviu Florea, George Pasache, Marius Codea, Petrisor Toderasc
Unused: Bogdan Munteanu
Attendance: 61000
Referee: Deluca p.
Points Scorers:
England
Tries: Healey A.S. 1, Luger D.D. 3, Regan M.P. 1, Robinson J.T. 4, Tindall M.J. 2, Worsley J.P.R. 1, Cohen B.C. 3, Hodgson C. 2, Moody L.W. 2, Sanderson A. 1
Conv: Hodgson C. 14
Pen K.: Hodgson C. 2
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