After Wales dispatched England at the Millennium Stadium, James Corrigan reflects on a professional performance in The Independent.
"Tremendous would be overstating it, but impressively professional probably wouldn't be. Certainly, the significance of their success should not be understated and no doubt it wouldn't be when the realisation hit home that this had been England humbled and, in fact, not come within a score. Yes, there were still many stats for the red-shirts to jam down the necks of the white-shirts on a Valentine's Night when, for once, the red rose should have seemed more a symbol of submission than love.
"This was the first time Wales had won three Six Nations matches in succession over their dear neighbours in 20 years and was their fourth victory over them in five Championships. Would that be enough for the over-expectant Welsh public? The hype that will continue to build over the next fortnight until Paris will suggest so. But they had arrived here with such a more resounding script in mind.
"First the English forwards would be hung, then the ball would be drawn and their backs would be three-quartered. It did not happen like that. The team who had tried to play the rugby did not crush the team that had tried to stop rugby. It was not a case of right prevailing over wrong, of good over evil, of Luke Skywalker over Darth Vader. But still, when it all came to pass – and strewth can those Welsh boys pass – there were drunken Welshmen who had plainly waited all their lives to feel this righteous.
"No doubt, there was an illusion in operation; there just had to be in a modern game where the majority of moves are born on the blackboard. Warren Gatland told them at half-time "we're in a Test here". The donkeys had to carry on doing their work and the pretty stuff would have to wait."
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