Wales recover as England mourn after Six Nations final The Wales centre pairing of Jamie Roberts (L) and Jonathan Davies (R) pose with the Six Nations trophy. JUST as the party to top all parties winds down in Wales, so the grim post-mortem begins in England. The dullest Six Nations in the tournament's 13-year history ended with the most rip-roaring of finales Saturday as the Welsh ripped the title out of the hands of their fiercest rivals with a record 30-3 win. Wales players celebrated wildly with their fans inside and outside Millennium Stadium, with flanker Sam Warburton saying he was feted "like a rock star" and businesses enjoying record-breaking trade in Cardiff. "Wow," said Wales fullback Leigh Halfpenny, the top scorer in the Six Nations and the probable Player of the Tournament. That was just incredible, the best occasion of my career and one that tops the Grand Slam of last year. For their opponents, it was a different story. Thrashed out of sight, the class of 2013 joined a long list of England teams to fall at the final hurdle with a Grand Slam in reach. Five of the past six Grand Slam opportunities have been botched. The campaign came grinding to a halt on the pitch just like it did off it hours later, when England's team bus was held up by jubilant, flag-waving Wales fans at the gate of the stadium. "I gathered the boys together in a huddle at the final whistle," England captain Chris Robshaw said in his column in London's Daily Telegraph, ..." and told them to remember the hurt they were feeling in that moment." There were echoes of Lawrence Dallaglio in 1999 in those words. "Bottle this feeling," Dallaglio said after England famously lost 32-31 to Wales at Wembley to miss out on the Grand Slam after Scott Gibbs' last-gasp try. The English became world champions four years later. This result and performance will haunt England will months to come. Years, maybe. Yet, while the players can release their pent-up frustration when they return to club duty this week, Stuart Lancaster and the rest of the coaching staff must wait until the summer tour of Argentina to get the squad back together. "There is still an upward curve," Lancaster said. We will hold our nerve and stick with the plan because I believe it will come good. Unfortunately for Lancaster, the best of his players will be touring Australia with the British and Irish Lions, although Wales will undoubtedly put forward the biggest contingent of players when the squad is announced on April 30. How many Scotland and Ireland provide is another question. The Irish have slipped to ninth in the IRB rankings, their lowest position ever, after finishing next-to-last in the standings with just one win and a draw to their name. Coach Declan Kidney is still in a job after the 22-15 loss to Italy on the final weekend, but for how long? A future without Brian O'Driscoll, who is likely to retire from internationals after the Lions tour, looks bleak for Ireland. Scotland improved after its miserable autumn campaign, coming third with two wins, but lacks the quality to challenge for the Six Nations title and still relies on inclement Edinburgh conditions to have a chance against the big teams. The dismal match between Scotland and Wales at Murrayfield provided arguably the lowest point of the tournament, when a world-record 18 penalty shots at goal were attempted and scrum after scrum collapsed. In total, only 37 tries were scored - nine fewer than the previous record low in the Six Nations - as foul weather across Europe caused havoc in the middle three weekends of the tournament. However, it was in those weeks when Wales regrouped after its opening-day loss to Ireland and rediscovered the resilience that helped capture the 2012 Grand Slam and took the team into the World Cup semi-finals the year before. Successive away wins arrived in France, Italy and Scotland before the Welsh simply blew England away in a spine-tingling atmosphere back in Cardiff. "The anthem was the most emotional I have ever known," Warburton said. It honestly took everything to hold it together at that point, I remember thinking, 'If I was an English player who has never played here before (there were 10 of them in the starting team), I'd be pretty shocked by all this.' About 80,000 pints were consumed inside Millennium Stadium and plenty more would've been sunk that evening, with Saturday reaping an estimated 17 million pounds ($24.7 million) for the Welsh capital. The army of red shirts will be transplanted from Cardiff to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney this winter when the Lions go looking for their first series win since 1997 in South Africa. It's sure to be the Welsh leading the way in Australia, too.