England 67 - 3 Romania

Wingers Mark Cueto and Chris Ashton both scored hat-tricks in an ominous performance by England against Romania ahead of Scotland’s Pool B showdown with them on Saturday.

Martin Johnson’s men ran in ten tries in a 67-3 thrashing of the Oaks, taking advantage of the perfect conditions at the indoor Otago Stadium with some slick back play

Manager Johnson had demanded a step up in terms of execution and discipline after the two patchy wins over Georgia and Argentina and got both as stand-off Jonny Wilkinson fired out crisp passes for willing runners.

Wilkinson was replaced at half-time by Toby Flood and the Romanian side also opted to rest several leading players ahead of their final pool game against Georgia on Wednesday.

England captain Lewis Moody said afterwards: “That’s what happens when we keep hold of the ball and do the basics right. They were very physical and full credit to Romania but we had a point to prove to ourselves and we have gone some way to doing that.”

After giving away more than 20 penalties and receiving two yellow cards in their first two games, England were much more circumspect at the breakdown, knowing there was no need to take risks, such was their dominance.

They also injected tempo into the game from the off, the forwards creating quick ball and the backs using it smartly. The first try came after 16 minutes when Wilkinson’s quick pass sent Ashton clear and he handed Cueto, making his first appearance of the tournament after overcoming a back problem, a simple score.

Cueto completed his hat-trick in 12 minutes after a quick tap penalty by Ben Youngs opened huge holes in the Romanian defence for his second and another Ashton break created the third.

Ashton then took centre stage as he ran on to another superb inside ball from Wilkinson. A burst by lock Louis Deacon set up Ashton’s second to give England a 34-3 halftime lead as Marin Dumbrava eventually put Romania on the board with a penalty.

Within 30 seconds of the restart Manu Tuilagi galloped up the right wing and sent Youngs clear for a try.

Tuilagi, whose powerful running has brought a cutting edge to England’s midfield, then set up full-back Ben Foden for England’s seventh before then breaking through two tackles to get his own name on the scoreboard.

Flanker Tom Croft then grabbed the ninth try before Ashton completed his hat-trick ten minutes from time, Flood adding his fourth conversion from five attempts.

“These games can be awkward, but we kept our discipline pretty well,” said Johnson. “It was job done tonight, and now we go into a massive week.”

Scorers: England: Tries: Cueto 3, Ashton 3, Youngs, Foden, Tuilagi, Croft. Cons: Wilkinson 3, Flood 4. Pen: Wilkinson. Romania: Pen: Dumbrava.

England: Foden; Ashton, Tuilagi, Tindall, Cueto; Wilkinson, Youngs; Corbisiero, Thompson, Cole, Deacon, Palmer, Croft, Moody, Haskell. Subs: Armitage for Foden (51), Flood for Wilkinson (40), Wigglesworth for Youngs (61), Mears for Thompson (50), Wilson for Cole (40), Shaw for Deacon (57), Wood for Moody (61).

Romania: Vlaicu; Ciuntu, Cazan, Dumitras, Apostol; Dumbrava, Sirbu; Nere, Zebega, Florea, Popirlan, Petre, Burcea, Ratiu, Tonita. Subs: Nicolae for Vlaicu (71), Gal for Cazan (42), Calafeteanu for Sirbu (43), Tincu for Zebega (50), Ion for Florea (61), Macovei for Petre (52).

Referee: Romain Poite (France). Attendance: 30,000.