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Williams debate will run and run

Hello. Remember me? I'm the fellow who said I thought the best finisher in Wales was a Williams but Martyn not Shane. The Six Nations is over, the Triple Crown and Grand Slam won and the celebrations have (almost) died down. Allow me to return to the subject.

What I said was not meant to be particularly argumentative, though it certainly sparked an outpouring of support, mainly for Shane though one or two voices were in agreement with me. It was my view that Martyn, with far fewer chances, scored more often than Shane with many more. It was my view that Shane fell over rather too often, dropped the ball more than he should, sometimes show-boated (those swallow-dives) and in general while scoring a lot of tries and creating all sorts of panic in whoever he was playing against did not score as many tries as he should.

Six Nations team of the tournament

1 Andrew Sheridan (England) – When he is allowed to scrum he is a formidable proposition. When England uses him on the charge he is the best loose head in the world. He was not at his very best this tournament but still the best loose head in this campaign.

2 Dmitri Szarzewski (France) - Occasionally errant at the line out but who was not? His rampant work in defence and attack is not far short of test match back row class. He has a long test career ahead of him.

3 Martin Castrogiavanni (Italy) – Immense yesterday to round up a fiercely competitive campaign. Technically he is as good as it gets; a man Nick Mallett can build a team around.

4 Nathan Hines (Scotland) – The solitary Scot from Perpignan in the team because he is not only outstanding at the line out but has a brilliant capacity to off load the ball and keep the rare Scottish movement alive. In a better team a lot of people would talk about this guy.

5 Alun Wyn Jones (Wales) – Getting better and better. “The modern forward” as Dick Best describes him, fast, good hands, makes the tackles. Did all of this and more throughout this competition.

6 Jonathon Thomas (Wales) – The Welsh blind side was the unspoken member of the acclaimed back row trinity. His athleticism at the line out and in the loose was a subtle part of the best back row in the competition.

7 Martyn Williams (Wales) – The greatest trick Warren Gatland ever pulled – to talk Martyn Williams out of retirement. Wales’ very own Pomerol, getting better with age; now for Schalk Burger and the ultimate physical test for an open side flanker.

8 Ryan Jones (Wales) – Or was that his greatest trick? The decision to appoint Jones  leader looks inspired, almost as inspired as Jones has had to be to hold off the challenge of Sergio Parisse for the Number Eight slot. Jones captains the team

9 Mike Phillips (Wales) – Until the weekend Mike Blair was my nine but the forceful performance of Phillips under pressure sways the day in the Ospreys favour. His power has been supplemented with much more technical nous at the base of the scrum. To think he will probably be on the bench when Ospreys face Saracens in the Heineken Cup.

10 Danny Cipriani (England) – One start was enough. It was Ronan O’ Gara going into the last round of fixtures but having played the Irishman into obscurity the sheer verve of his match makes him the ten of the tournament. Single handedly he made the English back line look like it knew what it was going. Miracles like that deserve recognition.

11 Shane Williams (Wales) – The all important try to give Wales the lead yesterday...but then again he always seems to be scoring all important tries. The finishing power flames as bright as ever whilst a new tightening of his defensive duties has turned him from a luxury item into one of the world’s best wingers.

12 Gavin Henson (Wales) – No longer a Welsh celebrity after this campaign, Henson is back to near his best with more to come. Excellent against France, his tackling has become as frequent as it has always been ferocious; the centre exudes class.

13 Tom Shanklin (Wales) – Dropped for the first match against England, the jolt did the trick. He came on and made an impact in that game and has grown game by game. The intelligence of his running and support lines is one of the features of the Welsh team.

14 Vincent Clerc (France) – It seems so long ago that the French back three were running rampant but Clerc did enough in Cardiff to remind us all of just what a marvellous player he has become. Thank the Lord for the Heineken Cup because we will be able to see him in Toulouse colours. Cardiff Blues, his quarter final opponents may not think the same.

15 Lee Byrne (Wales) – The most improved player in the tournament. Superb against England we commented on the excellence of that performance with some degree of surprise. Since then it was become a given. The official Man of the Match against Italy and commanding in the last two games Byrne has been rock solid throughout; JPR Williams for the 21st century without the sideburns but with a little bit more pace.

Player of the tournament – Shane Williams

Stuart Barnes's Six Nations verdict

Italy v Scotland

Italy received their just desserts with victory in Rome against Scotland. The appalling quality of the Calcutta Cup match was brought starkly into context as England’s conquerors succumbed to an inspired home pack. Had the Italians backs been anything other than we have known them to be for some seasons the margin of victory would have been vast and the failings of the Scottish team even more evident.

It has been a difficult season for Italy; had it not been for the moronic nature of England in Edinburgh it would have been a disastrous sporting one for Scotland. Take that solitary win out of the equation and there is little in the way of straw to clutch.

Certainly Scotland would love to have a pack with the technical ability of Italy’s. Once again the Italian front row were dominant and behind the other seven, Sergio Parisse’s status grew; he has reached the status of world class. He has been immense and his elevation to captaincy is a credit to the thought process of a former international Number Eight, now Italian coach, Nick Mallett.

Scotland has a bulky pack but not the ferocity and ability to make the weight count. It has a problem at fly half and a lack of penetration in the centre. In fact, the goal kicking of Chris Paterson apart it has very little; a pack row that can play, Nathan Hines and Mike Blair, the latter two both of whom had fine campaigns.

Italy has to find a pair of half backs; if it can discover a pair of gondoliers with a penchant for test match rugby they have the capacity to rise from the bottom of the Six Nations pile and quickly.

Man of the Match: Sergio Parisse – In was a second division test match but this was an elite performance by the Italian captain. An inspiration all season, his magnificent final eighty minutes drove Italy to the win their pack deserved.

England v Ireland

Danny Cipriani was not the official man of the match but this was HIS show. A new era may have dawned with the precocious Wasp at the helm. It was a debut of staggering proportions, one of the most memorable in living memory with the maturity of the performance more than any flash moments of skill standing out.

Had he played fly half against Wales and Scotland England would have won the Grand Slam. It makes the prevarication and conservatism of selection all the more galling for English supporters, still, better late than never.

The Wasps fly half brought the best out of Jamie Noon and used the pace and power of the back three to good effect but there were many remaining problems. The pack arm wrestled Ireland to exhaustion but refuse the option of quick ball. It is a culture that must change. If it does England will be a force.

The scenario is bleaker for Ireland. A decent twenty minutes apart, the men in green played with a lack of confidence and bravura. Even allowing for injury to Brian O’ Driscoll the side clearly appear to have lost their zest for the game under Eddie O’ Sullivan. Paul O’ Connell is nowhere near his peak which must concern Munster...but then again Munster and Ireland are two different teams.

Ronan O’ Gara faded but showed enough alongside Eoin Reddan to make Italy and Scotland green with envy while youngsters like Rob Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald and Tommy Bowe all are rich in talent. But to get the best from them Ireland has to rebuild in the front five with players like Tony Buckley now starting. Almost certainly the management needs rebuilding as well.

Man of the Match: Danny Cipriani – he ran the show, liberated the back line, kicked his goals without ever going anywhere near a ruck; the new age man is an old fashioned fly half with the rugby world at his fingertips.

Wales v France

And so to the final game of the campaign and the highlight of the season when the strongest  French team of the season failed to last eighty minutes with a Welsh team that defended for its Grand Slam before breaking out for glory. Shane and Martyn Williams score late tries, both of whom were inspired from the first to last in this tournament. But the defensive effort was the big differential between this and other Welsh teams. Wales can always attack but have long been loose in defence. Shaun Edwards has done a superb job both physically and psychologically. It has been a grand effort by management and team with Ryan Jones another Number Eight to have grown by the min ute with the responsibility of captaincy.

France has had a curious tournament. Until Saturday they have placed long term experimentation above results and maybe they have not quite achieved the right balance yet one suspects that Marc Lievremont and his selectors will not regard themselves as being far off course after the tournament. They have hard work to do to find the grunt in the front row but their back play is regathering momentum and youngsters like Francois Trinh Duc and Morgan Parra will have benefitted enormously.

Man of the Match: Martyn Williams – his organisational work in defence combined with his foraging attacking skills – beautifully emphasised by the try to seal the tournament. He will not be around forever but he has a huge role to if Wales are to build on a well deserved Grand Slam. Two Grand Slams in four years; it is time for French and English detractors to stop knocking Europe’s top team.

Wales are back at the top table of rugby

It was the morning after the party to end all parties. How is the hangover Warren Gatland was asked and the coach of the Wales team that 18 hours earlier had won the Grand Slam smiled ruefully and said: "not as bad as I expected." Alongside Gatland, Ryan Jones looked as though he had not been to bed. The Wales captain rolled his eyes in response to a similar question.

Wales's achievement in beating England after being 16-6 down at half-time, then Scotland, Italy, Ireland and then France was enormous. This, Wales's tenth Grand Slam, was better than the one in 2005, won by a tighter unit, harder, more pragmatic, with one or two players such as Martyn and Shane Williams who have the capability to change a game.

Wales confident of clinching grand slam

If the sights and sounds of Cardiff in the hours before the important game against France are anything to go by then Wales have this game in the bag. Roads in to the capital were unduly busy on Friday afternoon and the famous Millennium Stadium was full of well-wishers and sightseers. Nearly ten thousand Welsh flags had been planted on every one of the first ten rows of seats. And to cap it all, as they ran through their training routines for the last time, the Wales player wore red t shirts with Gravelle and the number 13 underneath in memory of Ray Gravelle, the talismanic centre who died earlier this year.

The proceedings will start soon after tea-time with Gravelle's two daughters carrying the Triple Crown that Wales won by beating Ireland last Saturday onto the pitch just behind the large figure of Ian Gough, who will lead Wales out in tribute to his winning 50 caps.

"We'll see what Hooky's made of," Warren Gatland, the Wales coach, said on the eve of the game as he watched his men run through their training routines at the Millennium Stadium. He was referring to the talented James Hook who will start the game at fly half instead of coming on later. "This is going to the biggest game of his life."

For the first time in this season's Six Nations Championship the stadium roof will be closed. Wales want it like that so that they can play their running, high-paced rugby and France need a firm surface if they are to stand any chance of scoring the 20 points necessary to take the Six Nations Chamionship from Wales. If Wales win by one point, they win the Grand Slam for the second time in four years.

The new stadium by the side of the River Taff is something of a favoured place for the French who have not lost there since 1999 and defeated New Zealand in a quarter-final of the Rugby World Cup last autumn.

But what has happened before in this famous rugby city will have little or no bearing on what happens in this game. It is expected that Wales's all-round strength, new-found tenacity and commitment and the bonus of playing at home will give them the advantage over France, even though the visitors have brought back many of their best players. Wales look to be more a team than France and have played together throughout this championship. They have faced adversity and dealt with it as when they were 6-16 down to England at half-time at Twickenham and they have played glorious rugby as they did in the second half against Italy when they scored 34 points and ran in four tries.

"If Wales win it will be the greatest achievement of my coaching career," Gatland said. Wales have a chance of beating the record for conceding the fewest number of tries. Two have been scored against them so far and so long as they do not let in more than one more they will beat England's record of four in the 2002 and 2003 championship.

That may be one record that is beyind them given the attacking nature of Marc Lievremont's side. But victory and with it the Six Nations and the Grand Slam should not.   

It's Wales to win by ten points.

The Rolling Maul: No (sur)name Danny fights the Irish

Danny's lost his surname. It's a mark of an ascension. Jonny lost his years ago and since that time, no surname has been needed. This Saturday we have the Danny show, and last week we had the Jonny no-show. However you dress it up, Brian Ashton was utterly compelled to make the change. If Danny had another night out passing on match tickets, then it had to be Charlie Hodgson. If not him, Ryan Lamb or Andy Goode. Jonny has, hopefully just for now, lost the art of making England play.

What can we expect? Not a free ride, of course. David Wallace of Ireland will be hounding Danny, Ronan O'Gara too. There will be more verbals than in a whole series of Parkinson. He has hardly ever met Richard Wigglesworth, his scrum-half, let alone played with him. He is sandwiched between Wigglesworth and Toby Flood, who has been wholly ineffectual so far this season. Danny will be expected to kick start a team that has been immobile, kicking itself. It is all a ferocious task.

But I just have this feeling that Danny could be special at Twickenham. He will change England 's shape simply by being there. He stands flatter than Wilkinson, his hands are quicker, he is slightly less mechanical in his distribution and he is far quicker over the ground. Indeed, Cipriani is one of the fastest men in rugby. At present, he is also a longer kicker out of hand than Wilkinson.

Naturally, we do not know yet if he can achieve the same high kicking percentage at Jonny, especially under pressure in the last few minutes. We do not know if he will be able to cope when the strapping Andrew Trimble and Wallace come down his channel though I have never seen him exposed in defence. We do not know if he can carry his aura into the Test field as did Jonny.

But I cannot remember being so excited about a young player or so admiring of his work ethic, charm and appeal. I conclude that if he does fail on Saturday, it will be for one reason - that he tries too much. He has been known to dip too deep into his box of tricks, to bank on his talent when a conservative option would maybe have been better. To speculate.

What a contrast with staid old England of late. What a prospect. We still love Jonny. But now it's Danny's turn, he deserves it, and I challenge you at Twickers and in your armchairs, not to be drawn to the edge of the seat.

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