SCOTLAND came to Twickenham dreaming of a first Triple Crown in 27 years. They left having equalled their heaviest defeat by England in the 146 years of the fixture.

That was the scale of the gulf between optimism and reality, as Eddie Jones’ team turned in by far their best performance of this year’s Six Nations Championship to reclaim their title with a round of games to spare. Scotland, by contrast - and even allowing for the sublime quality of some of their opponents’ play - reserved their worst display for when it mattered most.

From the second minute, when hooker Fraser Brown was yellow-carded for going in late and dangerously on Elliot Daly, Scotland looked off the pace and unsettled. England, having struggled to put in a complete performance thus far in the tournament for all that they had won their first three games, turned on the style with bewildering rapidity. The Calcutta Cup is theirs, the title is theirs, and they now go to Dublin knowing that victory there will take them to a new record for a Tier One nation of 19 Test victories in a row.

It was Wales’ win over Ireland the night before that had given England the chance to claim the championship along with the Calcutta Cup, and they wasted no time in seizing the opportunity. Three first-half tries helped them to a 30-point first half for the first time in six years, and they did not let up in the second.

Brown’s early sinbinning was the first significant act of the match, and the second followed a minute later when England took the lead. It was an all-too-simple score, with centre Jonathan Joseph gliding into the gap between Alex Dunbar and Huw Jones to dive over the line. Dunbar got a hand but no more to the try-scorer, whose speed helped him exploit what looked like a communication mix-up in the defence.

Owen Farrell, passed fit to start after sitting out Friday training with a leg injury, added the conversion and was soon on target with a penalty too to make it 10-0 after only seven minutes.

Finn Russell had a drop-goal attempt charged down at the end of Scotland’s first real attack, and with Brown back on the field a second Farrell penalty extended his team’s lead to 13-0 after quarter of an hour. The visitors’ problems mounted when Stuart Hogg went off for a head-injury assessment, forcing a reshuffle which saw Tommy Seymour move to full-back and Mark Bennett come onto the wing.

They worsened again two minutes later when the substitute injured a leg while counter-attacking from deep: Bennett was carted off, Henry Pyrgos came off the bench, and Ali Price moved to the wing. And then, with fully 15 minutes of the half to play, they worsened still further, as England went 20-0 up. Joseph was again the scorer, this time taking a very flat pass from Farrell to slalom between Brown and Pyrgos, and Farrell again added the two points.

When Russell sent a very kickable penalty to touch a few minutes later it looked like an act of desperation, but from the lineout drive Gordon Reid charged over the line for Scotland’s first score of the day, converted by the stand-off. That was a glimmer of hope, but another Farrell penalty soon dampened it.

Five minutes before the break, England set up another attack by kicking a penalty to touch, and Joseph scythed through the first line of defence with embarrassing ease. Sensing he might not make it past all the cover, however, he passed to Anthony Watson, who had no trouble in crossing for what became another seven-pointer.

The game was well beyond Scotland by the time they went in at the interval 30-7 down, Farrell having missed a long-range penalty with the last kick of the half, but they needed to reorganise immediately if they were to avoid an embarrassingly heavy defeat.

They did not. Instead, Joseph took just three minutes to complete his hat-trick and bring up the bonus point, setting up the scoring chance with another mazy run, then finishing it off a couple of phases later when Scotland ran out of bodies. Farrell converted, then made it 40 points with another penalty.

Jones grabbed Scotland’s second, converted try from five metres out after a patient drive, but England soon resumed the punishment, with substitute Billy Vunipola scoring their fifth try a mere two minutes after making his appearance. Even before Farrell added two more points, that brought up the record, surpassing the 43 points racked up against the Scots in both 2001 and 2005.

At 43-3 the former match had been the highest margin between the sides, but another converted try by Jones 10 minutes from time appeared to have ended England’s hopes of reaching that record too. Nonetheless, Danny Care got the home team’s sixth try to bring up the half-century, then scored the seventh nearly four minutes into stoppage time. With Farrell converting both, that margin from far less auspicious times for Scotland was equalled.

The champagne corks had started popping around Twickenham long before the end. Scotland, meanwhile, probably needed a post-match pint or two to get the bitter taste of ashes out of their mouths.

Scorers:

England: Tries: Joseph 3, Watson, B Vunipola, Care 2. Cons: Farrell 7. Pens: Farrell 4.

Scotland: Tries: Reid, Jones 2. Cons: Russell 3.

Referee: M Raynal (France). Attendance: 82,000.