Owen Farrell's birth took place during an England Gram Slam year, nine days before the All Blacks opened the 1991 World Cup by beating the hosts at Twickenham.

Elliot Daly came into the world almost exactly twelve months later, during another England Gram Slam year.

How fitting, therefore, that between them they have kept their country full steam ahead towards their first back-to-back Slams in the quarter of a century since their joint arrival.

Farrell's majestic pass and Daly's exhilarating finish settled a match worthy of inclusion amongst the Six Nations' greatest, an occasion as momentous as any since the whole Wales-England thing kicked off at Mr Richardson's Field in Blackheath 136 years ago.

Since the advent of the RBS 6 Nations nobody has managed the ultimate consistency of defending one Slam by securing another.

Such has been the sheer competitive ferocity of the Championship that not even Europe's one World Cup-winning team, England's of 2003, could achieve back-to-back clean sweeps.

With time running out in Cardiff last Saturday night, Eddie Jones' squad were in imminent danger of suffering the same fate as Sir Clive Woodward's.

Just as his crack at a double Slam disintegrated in the face of Ireland's assault at Twickenham thirteen years ago, so Jones' was about to hit the buffers in territory where more than one winning English chariot had come to grief.

Wales, five points ahead with fewer than five minutes left, had moved to within sight of ensuring that history would repeat itself.

Four years earlier they had defied the odds by preventing Chris Robshaw's team from being anointed Grand Slam champions.

And by the time they had finished, Wales had replaced their neighbours at the top of the table, seizing the title as due reward for daring to stretch their winning margin that night to an unprecedented 27 points.

And there they were, about to defy the odds again and ensure that New Zealand's world record of 18 straight wins would still be safe in All Blacks hands.