Wales for the Grand Slam?

[BeautifulBurnout]

Well, just caught the end of the England/Ireland match. Shame England couldn't play like that all the time - and Cipriani did well in his first match too. 20 years old and didn't miss a penalty. (BTW if anyone caught what he said in his little interview at the end that upset the BBC so much, please tell me cos I missed his comment )

So, I think this is the first time I have actually supported Wales in anything, but I really want them to win this match now. (Desolee M.G. )

And they did it! There's gonna be a lot of beer flowing in Wales tonight. And a lot of cheese on toast! </Bill Bailey>

Exciting match - at half time it was really anybody's game. But the Welsh came back fighting hard and deserved the win. Well done.

[m.g.]

& & they really deserved it this year... well done... & a beautiful evening/night to all the Welsh

[stimpee]

Excellent win for Wales.... means England finish 2nd above the rest

[BeautifulBurnout]

Ah... found what Capriani did to upset the Beeb so much. I guess it was before the 9.00pm watershed

Linky

[matt]

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...

[chuck]

Very late on this one - big congrats and another round to the Taffs - Grand Slams don't come easily - so well worth celebrating.

Not sure what it means for world rugby - Super 14 is in full effect here, and we're not quite sure how the new experimental laws are going to change the international game. I have to admit to enjoying them - faster, more enjoyable game to watch, but with a real need for a quality fatboys and shiny backlines still.

Basically they don't stand around as much under the new rules as they used too. Course - the ELV's aren't being used for Tri-Nations and I can't see NH adopting them anytime soon.

Gatland's done good things with that squad - I still can't bring myself to rate Shane Williams though - reminds me of Ben Blair too much.

Roll on the November tours. Don't forget the Bledisloe Cup match being held in Hong Kong this year.

[chuck]

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