'I have not seen that complete an England performance for years'

In his BBC Sport column, World Cup winner Matt Dawson reflects on England's huge Six Nations win over Wales, their Six Nations campaign and why Maro Itoje is a Lions captain in waiting.

I have not seen the complete performance England produced against Wales for a number of years.

The first 10 minutes of the 68-14 win in Cardiff were absolutely brutal. It was so fast and accurate.

The system they pieced together was machine-like, yet they still had the creativity to emphatically unravel Wales.

Some of the criticism of Steve Borthwick as head coach has been fair, but he got his selection spot on and he has created an environment where those players have been able to put down that performance at the Principality Stadium.

Defensively, England put nobody in the rucks and they were actively backing away from competing for the ball.

They just had a white wall and basically said to Wales, 'we are backing our one-on-one defence with our physicality and you will not break us down'.

The number of times they went for a turnover and completed it was very high compared to wasting energy trying to compete at every breakdown.

Wales were expelling loads of energy and England were inviting them to keep coming.

It was a classic Muhammed Ali rope-a-dope. England were patiently absorbing it all and waiting for Wales to make a mistake before nicking the ball.

Wales didn't have the ability to change their game plan and they were just getting isolated. They didn't try and pick and go through the middle, and they punched themselves out.

There were about 10 or 12 minutes when England were 14-0 up and Wales scored a try and had one disallowed, but Maro Itoje and the leaders gave each other a bit of a telling-off and, from then on, they were pretty much faultless and went back to being patient.

The intensity, the ruck speed, the handling, the decision-making about when to pick and go and when to find the overlaps were all executed to a high level. Some of the moves in the short lineout were also playing to the strengths and the speed of the back row.

You knew with 10 minutes to go that Wales were not going to be able to put one foot in front of the other. They gave everything and didn't make many mistakes, but they just didn't have the personnel.

It was the best England performance of the Borthwick era by a mile and it could mean a few more of their players go on the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia this summer.

Look at what that did for the Welsh lads that went down under in 2013. It gave them enormous confidence for the rest of their careers.

There is no reason why the England players involved can't do that, which could influence the team for years to come.

Itoje has been one of England's standout performers. He is 30 years old and has won 93 caps but he is playing like when he first came on the scene. Every game he is up for man of the match.

When top players get the armband it gives them superhuman strength. If anything, Itoje has got a bit quieter, but his performance are shouting from the rooftops.

He is so much more disciplined; he doesn't give as many penalties away. There is less gesticulating. He used to cheer and be very expressive but he has an absolute killer instinct about him at the moment in everything he does.

It is crying out for him to be Lions captain. He is nailed on to be in that Test team and he has two tours under his belt.

Ireland's Caelan Doris is another candidate, but the back row will a hugely competitive area for the Lions, whereas in the second row Itoje is playing all day long.

Fin Smith, meanwhile, has established himself as England's number 10.

I know there have been a couple of current and former players being slightly biased, mainly because of the clubs they play for, saying that Marcus Smith should be the fly-half.

But the facts are there for everyone to see and at Test level you have to have a fly-half with control and the ability to make everything look easy. Fin Smith's passing was good but his touchline kicking was world-class and possibly the best I've ever seen.

Every single time they had a penalty he was making England 40 or 50 metres. They had a couple of early penalties and I was thinking they should take the three points, but Fin Smith kicks it five meters from the touchline - and those margins make a massive difference.

Then you add his calmness and distribution, picking the right holes and making the right calls. George Ford did the same when he came on, zipping about. Wales were running in circles.

Contrast that with Wales, where Gareth Anscombe was too deep and very lateral and played into England's hands.

France were the best team in the tournament. They had a couple of dodgy moments against England, which cost them a Grand Slam, but they will take winning the championship.

They have had their post-2023 World Cup sulk and everyone has regrouped and moved on to the next challenge in 2027.

Scotland are a little bit like my football team, Everton.

As a fan, you start every season thinking we can get into Europe. But no, we are a mid-table team. Maybe in 10 years it might be different.

Scotland are such a good side and do some incredible stuff, but they just don't have the squad to be able to do it against a series of top teams over a longer period of time.

Ireland have had a tough time with the coaching changes and a few injuries, and we maybe got fooled a bit with the second half against England when they powered past them.

They are not quite the Ireland the used to be with that full Leinster contingent, but I would be reluctant to say they are on the slide. They still have some excellent players and Andy Farrell is coming back as head coach, so Ireland will be a threat in the next World Cup.

Wales could not have given any more, but they don't have the personnel to compete at this level and that is why they have lost 17 games on the bounce.

It is an infrastructure issue which hasn't been addressed for years - and they have a mountain to climb in the next five years.

Lions head coach Farrell will name his squad on 8 May, but here is my team:

Lions: Blair Kinghorn (Scotland); James Lowe (Ireland), Tommy Freeman (England), Bundee Aki (Ireland), Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland); Finn Russell (Scotland), Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland); Andrew Porter (Ireland), Dan Sheehan (Ireland), Will Stuart (England), Maro Itoje (England, capt), Ollie Chessum (England), Tom Curry (England), Josh van der Flier (Ireland), Caelan Doris (Ireland).