The opening weekend of England's Autumn Nations Series will end in far more jovial spirits than it began after Eddie Jones' side ousted Tonga from Twickenham as 69-3 victors on Saturday.
Adam Radwan and Maro Itoje were among five first-half try-scorers to steer the Red Rose into a 26-point lead at the break, with Jonny May, Jamie George and Ben Youngs completing braces after the restart.
Marcus Smith also underlined his England credentials with a try-scoring contribution off the bench after a red card meant Tonga were forced to finish the game with 14 men.
England impressed mightily despite captain Owen Farrell being ruled out of the fixture having re-tested as positive for the coronavirus on the eve of the fixture.
The Northampton Saintsstar proved surplus to requirements as Newcastle full-back George Furbank took the No. 10 jersey in his stead, with not-yet-fully-fit Smith settling for a place on the bench.
It took Radwan less than three minutes to get points on the board, picking up where he left off after scoring a hat-trick on debut against Canada in July.
The Newcastle winger scored under a pile of bodies after darting off his right wing, and George crossed over off a rolling maul in similar fashion not long after.
Henry Slade took kicking duties ahead of fly-half stand-in Furbank but was unable to convert on either occasion, one area in which the team were perhaps missing Farrell's presence.
That was perhaps the only area England could be considered lacking, however, as May and Itoje bagged tries of their own either side of the half-hour mark.
May goose-stepped and swan-dived his way over the line before challenging for a ball in the air, and opposing winger Solomone Kata was shown yellow after he was adjudged to have illegally taken out the Gloucester man.
Tonga nonetheless had their best scoring chance while down a man when full-back Telusa Veainu intercepted to run almost the length of the pitch, only for Courtney Lawes to emerge and spoil his celebrations on the line.
An almost perfect first period ended with scrum-half Youngs scoring on his 110th appearance for England, scooting over the line off a clinical line-out manoeuvre.
Harlequins No. 8 Alex Dombrandt—considered by many a glaring omission from the starting XV—came on to replace Sam Underhill at half-time, which saw Curry move back to a more natural flanker role.
No sooner had Kata returned to replenish Tonga's ranks when they were reduced to 14 once more, with Walter Fifita sin binned in the 45th minute for a deliberate knock-on.
It didn't take Youngs long to capitalise again after snaffling the ball ahead of Sione Vailanu, running 60 metres to score almost unopposed.
Manu Tuilagicentre Mark Atkinson made his England debut aged 31 after replacing the impressive Manu Tuilagi, while Smith came on to a warm Twickenham reception in place of Furbank.
The Quins star nonchalantly converted May's second score after the winger crept over off the back of a lineout but was then the unfortunate recipient of an elbow from Tonga replacement Viliami Fine.
Referee Craig Evans consulted with the television match official before showing the full-back a straight red for the offence, and George mauled over to complete a third England brace seconds later.
Not even an elbow to the face could faze England's fly-half heir, however, after he backed up a superb Slade break on halfway to score his second England try soon after.
Northampton scrum-half Alex Mitchell had a try ruled out on debut only to grubber over for a legal effort minutes later, with substitute hooker Jamie Blamire also among the second-half scorers.
After finishing as runners-up to Rugby World Cup in 2019, Jones is eager to see his side go all the way at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
While he saw this performance as a building block towards that target, the coach conceded England are still developing with that goal in mind: "We saw the mindset of being aggressive in attacking the opportunities. That is what we have been working on.
"The mechanics of it will be a constant fine-tuning and the only time you need to see that at its best is when we play the seventh game of a World Cup."
When asked about Smith's impact off the bench, the Australian was eager to stress the overall team display and replied: "I was impressed by the team, by how they dug deep in the last 20 and really went at it, which has not been a natural characteristic of England, to really finish off a team.
"I really enjoyed how they did that and Marcus was part of that charge."
Jones will hope to have Farrell back in play for next Saturday's Test against an Australia side who are sure to cause more trouble at Twickenham.
Although it may have come through unforeseen means, this game provided essential insight as to how England can operate without their skipper in play, even if it came against lower-tier opposition.
