Wales 16-21 England, by David Nicholson at the Millennium Stadium

After all the hype and home-side mind games, an inexperienced and injury-ravaged England dominated Wales to win the Six Nations opening game in Cardiff on a freezing and pulsating Friday night.

The opening tournament match was preceded by huge amounts of fanfare and analysis which largely said that Wales were firm favourites with a settled side, while England were struggling with injury.

The script seemed to be going to plan as Wales roared into a 10-point lead in the opening 10 minutes of the game, but the plain fact was that the men in white were already exerting dominance up front.

Toby Faletau showed quick thinking and fast hands to pull the ball out of a retreating Wales scrum and send scrum-half Rhys Webb over for a try that had seemed unlikely as English forwards pushed Wales back off an attacking Welsh scrum.

Much had been made about experience versus inexperience in the cauldron of the Millennium Stadium, but it was England with 358 caps against a collective Welsh total of 648 that had the coolest heads and showed the greater wit and game intelligence.

What was clear in a second half that saw England score 13 unanswered points was that coach Stuart Lancaster has finally found a game plan that matches forward power and dominance with back-line inventiveness and defensive solidity.

Lancaster’s hand was forced by his increasing injury list, which meant just five players from this fixture last year played, versus 13 for Wales.

But the three Six Nations debutants seized their opportunity with fly-half George Ford bossing his side, while Jonathan Joseph and Anthony Watson were sharp, inventive and took their opportunities to cross the try line with aplomb.

In contrast, Wales coach Warren Gatland had tried to unsettle the visitors with his usual array of mind games, while the Welsh RFU seemed to have organised the pre-match festivities to get England waiting on the pitch for the home side.

The men in white refused to allow this and captain Chris Robshaw kept his side in the tunnel, declining to take his side out until Wales were ready.

Both coaches refused to draw any World Cup conclusions from this result, with Lancaster hailing this as his best moment in charge of England, exorcising the demons of the 2013 loss to Wales.

Lancaster now has the enviable task of deciding whether to change a winning side as centres Brad Barritt and Kyle Eastmond are set to return this week, along with forward Geoff Parling.

Meanwhile Gatland approached this defeat by blaming the referee’s interpretation of the scrum laws. But the real difference was Wales’s one-dimensional play, with no alternative game plan to react to events on the pitch.

Whatever the two coaches say publicly England have gained bragging rights over the Welsh, who they meet in the World Cup “pool of death” in September.