superb 6N to be a Welsh fan
Was going to start a thread much earlier in the tournament but then got kind of superstitious as whenever i do that Wales always seem to lose (cf World Cup and Fiji)
Winning the Grand Slam is not that much of a surprise to us Welsh Fans as I think we've always had the players and skill set but just needed the right coaches (and a much tighter defence - thank you Mr Edwards) plus the 6N after a World Cup is one where lots of teams are in transition so not necessarily at their best. Once we'd won that first game at Twickenham I knew the GS was a distinct possibilty as our next two games were at home against the two weakest sides and so we would have considerable momentum on our side by the time we played an underperforming Irish side.
And i wouldn't bet against Wales doing it again next year - I'm not being arrogant or getting ahead of myself but we've England & Ireland at home (and both those sides probably with new coaches and untried combinations) and no disrespect but we should beat Italy & Scotland away (with Italy probably the tougher game) which would mean potentially a trip to Paris to make it back to back Grand Slams. I don't think we will do it next year mind but it's definitely not outside the realms of possibility and I certainly expect us to to be challenging for the title again.
However, the big question now (as I'm sure chuck will point out) is for Wales to perform against the big 3 from the SH and with a summer tour to South Africa and then games against all 3 Tri Nations teams in November we won't have too long to wait to find out how far Wales have come. As Gatland's pointed out though, we're still 2 years away from being a good side and i expect us to improve over the next few years...