Flood kicked 13 points and while Wales hit back with a try from Morgan Stoddart and 11 points from Stephen Jones it was not enough.

Wales had the opportunity to draw the first blood inside the first five minutes when England were penalised at the scrum but full-back James Hook just missed the lengthy penalty attempt.

And three minutes later Jones followed Hook's unenviable example, putting an easier attempt wide to leave the scores level.

But it was England who opened the scoring in the 14th minute when the home defence went awol and fly-half Food gleefully nipped through the gaping hole before releasing Ashton to cross under the posts.

Leicester No. 10 Flood duly added the extras to give the visitors the perfect possible start and leave the partisan home crowd stunned.

And it was 10-0 midway through the half when Wales No. 8 Andy Powell was penalised for not releasing on his 22 and Flood made no mistake with the conversion.

Five minutes later Wales reduced the deficit when Jones got his first points of the night with a comfortably converted penalty.

England looked to be turning the screw with some sustained pressure as the half hour approached only for Wales to turn the momentum on its head.

First Hook very nearly freed the returning Stoddart only for the Scarlets wing to be collared as he scampered down the touchline.

Then minutes later a marauding Wales looked set to grab their opening try. After going through the phases Warren Gatland's side were within metres of the line, only for England second row Louis Deacon to cynically slap the ball out of Mike Phillips' hands.

Deacon duly was shown the yellow card and Jones made light work of the penalty but the home side will have felt like they should have had four more points.

Wales desperately tried to force the issue with the Leicester lock on the sidelines but it was England who added the final score of the half, a Flood penalty with Powell again the guilty party.

The home side got the perfect possible start three minutes after the break when Jones kicked a penalty from the touchline to reduce the deficit to four.

But disaster struck for the hosts moments later when prop Craig Mitchell was caught with hands in the ruck and was duly sent to the sin bin,

To make matters worse for the hosts, the unflappable Flood slotted the resulting penalty to restore England's seven-point advantage.

And with the Ospreys prop off the field England turned the screw. After a multi-phase move Ashton was put in the corner for his second score in the corner.

Flood continued his own impressive display to add a touchline conversion but Wales came roaring back with a try on the hour mark.

Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies made the break and, despite a suspect pass, Stoddart was able to get over in the corner.

Jones copied his counterpart to add the extras from the touchline and the home side, and the crowd, sensed blood at 23-16.

After a period of sustained pressure the home side got themselves within four points when Hook kicked a penalty after England centre Shontayne Hape was offside at a ruck.

But it was England who had the best of the last ten minutes, spending the majority of it camped on the home side's line.

And after Toby Flood leaving his stamp on the previous 67 minutes, it was his replacement Jonny Wilkinson who notched the final blow, kicking a penalty six minutes from time to kill off any Welsh comeback.