Despite March beginning its final countdown, the daffodils are still a beautiful site adorning the grounds of Cardiff Castle, reminding us that Spring has sprung as the lighter and longer days continue to extend.

But just across the road, it was a bunch of Red Roses that stole the rugby flower show yesterday as they bloomed under the roof of the Principality Stadium.

It came as no surprise that England extended their unbeaten run to twenty-two matches, and also to thirty Guinness Women’s Six Nations matches without a loss.

As we all put our clocks forward in the early hours of Sunday morning, Wales were no doubt wishing they could put theirs back eight hours in an attempt to achieve a different outcome to a match in which they were thoroughly beaten.

Transport for Wales may have reliability issues as train users in these parts will testify but the Keighley Express Ellie Kildunne can always be relied upon to reach the try line without disruption, Wales would have required a fleet of bus replacement services to derail the non-top touchdown service provided by her and the women in white.

On the plus side, the glorious sight of a record crowd for a women’s sporting event in Wales (21,186) gladdened the heart and proof if it were needed that women’s rugby continues to grow, not only in attendance terms but also in quality and excitement.

Eleven tries conceded and a 67-12 scoreline do not provide a barrel load of positives for the women in red, yet for the first ten minutes they dominated possession and took an early 7-0 lead 

One thing Wales most definitely are not is slow starters, as they showed yesterday and also in their previous match against Scotland.

This is a new era for Wales Women and the gulf between them and the World number one side is brutally evident, but this team will improve the more time they have with the new coaching set up and perhaps the matches against Ireland and Italy will provide more of a level playing field to assess where Wales stand in the current world order.