Whether it was a deliberate, pointed pick, we’ll never know.
But as Wales’ replacements jogged out ahead of their team for the start of the second half, the Allianz Stadium DJ launched into the Kaiser Chiefs’ noughties shout-a-along ‘I Predict a Riot’.
At 29-0 up, it wasn’t the boldest forecast.
And in the end, Wales showed enough fight and quality to prevent England vandalising their national pride as they did in Cardiff last March.
But, by any measure, England’s 48-7 win was a walloping.
Ball in hand, they made nearly twice the metres of the visitors.
Wales were spinning like tops in defence, chasing back after 16 line-breaks. The visitors made only six in the opposite direction
England had almost 60% of territory. By 25 minutes in, Wales had a decimal point of hope. At best.
Afterwards head coach Steve Borthwick thought the scoreline stat should have been even more lopsided in England’s favour.
“I thought we defended exceptionally well, we kicked really well and we scored some nice tries, but I think we left a lot out there on the grass.,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“We’ll review this game and say there’s a load of things we could do a lot better. Those are the things we need to step up next week.
“Second half we were in the 22 a lot but didn’t come away with points on as many occasions as we’d have liked.”
Ultimately, England made enough stick to the scoreboard to sit atop of the Six Nations table after round one.
More interesting than the early-stage standings to Borthwick will be the lessons, albeit it limited and caveated by the quality of the opposition, that he can take.
Henry Arundell, all low-slung power and top-end speed, inevitably took the headlines after helping himself to a first-half hat-trick.
The 23-year-old, who, as a teenager, scored a try with his first touch of the ball in the Test game, has a sky-high international strike-rate.
In 12 Tests, he has 11 tries.
That stat is inflated by five against Chile in the last Rugby World Cup, as well as Saturday’s work, but his ability to turn a half-break into a full five points is precious.
When Fraser Dingwall scooped up and shovelled the ball to him for England’s fourth try of the afternoon, the cover was instantly blow-torched.
Arundell’s improvement under the high ball this season – most notably in Bath’s win over Saracens opposite Noah Caluori – and defence, are qualities that have been coached into him. His fast-twitch physicality, though, is an ability beyond anyone’s gift.
With the amount of slapped-back kick-chase and subsequent broken-field chaos in the modern game, it is a more of a lethal weapon than ever.
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