England 29 Wales 18: 'We had our hearts in our mouths,' admits England coach Stuart Lancaster

England coach Stuart Lancaster celebrates after the victory over Wales (PA)

England’s fate in this Six Nations is not in their own hands: if Ireland see off the French in Paris in six days’ time, their vastly superior points difference will trump anything Stuart Lancaster’s men register in beating Italy in Rome – and as the head coach acknowledged last night, Ireland are a “quality side”. But Lancaster will surely find a way of living with the frustration of a third successive runners-up finish. Winning trophies are always better than the alternative, but coming up marginally short under present circumstances would be something less than a catastrophe.

After two excellent victories over the best the Celtic rugby world has to offer - against the Irish a little over a fortnight ago; against Wales on Sunday - England are in a good place, with a fresh group of youngsters successfully blooded and a whole bunch of Test Lions on their way back from injury. And when the likes of Manu Tuilagi, Marland Yarde, Tom Croft and Alex Corbisiero return to the mix, they will have themselves a ball playing rugby at this speed and intensity. If selected, naturally.

"There were times out there when we had our hearts in our mouths, because we played in the wrong areas on occasion," Lancaster said after breaking his own personal duck against Wales. "But the intent to play was outstanding, and that's what I found satisfying. We didn't get everything right, but if you'd offered me this scoreline before the start, I'd have taken it 100 per cent.

"I suppose people will look at this result in terms of next year's World Cup, but I don't really see it that way. For one thing, the best team will win on that day, which is still a long way off; for another, both England and Wales will have to play Australia and two other countries in the pool stage. Our job now is to get our heads right for the game in Rome, against a very proud Italian side who have given us a hard time over the last couple of years. We have to do what we can do and see what happens elsewhere."

While Lancaster was eager to credit his assistant Andy Farrell's part in the planning of the unexpectedly convincing triumph - "He's an important bloke in our set-up and he was always going to get the defence right for this game," the boss said - the Wales back-roomers were left to mourn an error-plagued performance that ended their interest in the tournament and killed off any last lingering hopes of an unprecedented hat-trick of titles.

"We were on the wrong side of the ledger with the scrum penalties, we didn't hold on to the ball for nearly long enough and we killed ourselves with the turnovers we conceded," said Lancaster's opposite number, Warren Gatland. "In retrospect, it's been a long, hard 18 months for a lot of the Welsh players: a Grand Slam, followed by a championship, followed by a Lions tour of Australia. But that's professional sport and you have to get yourself up for it. We weren't as good as we could have been out there and it's disappointing."

If Gatland was happy to admit that England were full value for their victory, the captain Sam Warburton accepted that the concession of a soft try to the red rose scrum-half Danny Care just four minutes into the encounter was a self-inflicted punch to the solar plexus. "We should have reacted much better to the threat," said the flanker, who was among those most obviously caught unawares by the busy Harlequin's tap-and-go raid close to the Welsh line.  "Because we didn't react, we found ourselves chasing the game early."

Wales, who play Scotland in a dead game next weekend, will certainly be without the full-back Leigh Halfpenny, who suffered a bad shoulder injury seven minutes from time, and may also lose the services of the scrum-half Rhys Webb, whose ankle gave way early in the second half.