England beat Wales to stay in Six Nations hunt

LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - Tries by Anthony Watson, Elliot Daly and Manu Tuilagi drove England to a more convincing victory over Wales than the 33-30 scoreline suggested on Saturday, but what the result means for the coronavirus-hit Six Nations championship remains to be seen.

England were on top from the moment Watson scored after four minutes and led 20-9 at the break after Daly crossed and Owen Farrell converted both and landed two penalties.

Wales closed the gap immediately after the break through Justin Tipuric but England remained in charge, landing further penalties and then a third try for Tuilagi after an hour.

Dan Biggar and Tipuric then scored late tries for the visitors with England down to 13 men after a yellow card for Ellis Genge and a red for Tuilagi for a dangerous tackle.

England's third successive victory takes them to 13 points, level with unbeaten France, who play in Scotland on Sunday. It was a third successive defeat for last year's Grand Slam winners.

England will now have to wait for a rearranged date for their final game in Italy, hoping that France slip up in one of their last two games to open the door to the title.

(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Tony Lawrence)