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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.

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 Welsh dream that dare not speak its name

Hush for a moment. Cock your head towards Wales and you'll hear the familiar sounds of a nation holding its breath. From now until about seven o'clock on Saturday evening when the game against France ends, everyone in this rugby-mad country west of the Severn is thinking of one thing and not daring to talk about it.

Cipriani shattered by harsh judgement

If Danny Cipriani's behaviour in dropping off a ticket for a friend in a London nightclub at a few minutes past midnight on Wednesday night Thursday morning is deemed inappropriate and deserving of the young man being dropped from the England team to play Scotland on Saturday afternoon, then some of things rugby players used to get up to would be considered hanging crimes.

A cow in reception?  Yes that happened on one Easter tour. And it could have arrived on the first floor of that particular hotel and in a particular room except it couldn't be persuaded to climb the stairs and it was too big to go into the lift. Typical of cows, that! No sense of humour at all.

Wales daring to dream

Hush for a moment. Cock your head towards Wales and you'll hear the familiar sounds of a nation holding its breath. From now until about three o'clock on Saturday afternoon when the game against Ireland will end everyone of us in this rugby-mad country west of the Severn in Wales is thinking of one thing and not daring to talk about.

The thing? Oh come on. Haven't you been paying attention? The Triple Crown of course. The Grand Slam. The Championship. Whether Wales can do in 2008 what they did in 2005 and beat every other country in the Six Nations championship.

Out west, a nation holds its breath

Hush for a moment. Cock your head towards Wales and you'll hear the familiar sounds of a nation holding its breath. From now until about three o'clock on Saturday afternoon when the game against Ireland will end everyone of us in this rugby-mad country west of the Severn in Wales is thinking of one thing and not daring to talk about.

The thing? Oh come on. Haven't you been paying attention? The Triple Crown of course. The Grand Slam. The Championship. Whether Wales can do in 2008 what they did in 2005 and beat every other country in the Six Nations championship.

It's funny being in a country where there is only one topic of conversation and yet nobody really dares to talk about it for fear of getting ahed of themselves or tempting providence. No nation matches Wales for enthusiasm for rugby. No nation matches Wales for getting ahead of themselves. No nation has to be told so often by the coaches and players that they are only taking one match at a time as Wales.

John Hopkins responds to your comments on who is the better Williams, Martyn or Shane?

John Hopkins piece on the two Williams certainly got a few of you hot under the collar. The suggestion that Martyn might be a better finisher than the more renowned Shane elicited a huge number of comments. Here, John responds to some of your thoughts.

Agree with some of this article - Shane Wiliams should score more often. Martyn Williams is a very good flanker. However, if Martyn Williams was doing what the best no7s do - ie. winning the ball at the break down and turning over opposition ball, then I'd question whether he'd have half the tries that he has. An excellent player - yes, but people who play the game know that the back rower scoring the tries is not the team mate they'd pick first. George

JH: Good point but Martyn, currently in terrific form, does score a lot.

A tale of two Williams

The best finisher in Welsh rugby is named Williams. But it's not Shane, it's Martyn.

The Martyn who has ginger hair and is a flanker and is probably the best open-side in the world at the moment. The Martyn who is in the form of his life at present. The Martyn who almost always scores when he gets a chance whether for Cardiff Blues or Wales. He is predatory, devilish, disarming. The ball will be lost among a group of players and then suddenly there is Martyn Williams racing upfield with it.

Heady days indeed for Welsh rugby

Wales against Scotland is nothing like Wales against England. Wales against Ireland is nothing like Wales against England. Wales against France is nothing like Wales against England. Nothing is like Wales England except Scotland against England and Ireland against England and France against England. Wales do not want to lose to Scotland or to Ireland but they hate to lose against England. Wales? Scotland, Ireland and France, too.

Imagine a room in a city in England on the afternoon of the England v Wales game. Two very successful businessmen are sitting watching the game. Both are Welsh and thus both are hugely patriotic. The language they shout at the television is extraordinary, words they would rarely use at other times. "Take that you corduroy-trousered effing ....." as Wales overturn the half-time deficit of 6-16.

A 9pm kick-off? I should be at the opera

When I heard that France and Wales will begin their match in next year's Six Nations at 9pm on Friday night, my heart sank and I wondered what the supporters of this wonderful competition would think of this.

Then I realised. I am a supporter of the Six Nations and have been for 50 years. So, what do I think?

Still rugby daft

There is never an off season for Welsh rugby, never a time when it is not being discussed and merely a few months when the game is not being played.

Wales are out of the World Cup but that has not diminished the country's interest in the game. The passion for it remains. In Wales at the moment, there's the Magners League, the Premiership, the Heineken Cup, the retirement of some senior players, the anticipated appointment of a national coach, and of a director of elite performance.

A tale of two attitudes

Zut alors! Wales are back in France. Bienvenue a France and ta-ta to Cardiff.  Welcome to baguettes, croissants, bicyclettes and soupe a l'onion and ta-ta to bacon baps, daffodils, leeks and the bubbling debates that are a part and parcel of rugby in the Principality.

Back in the arms of my fathers

Zut alors, I am back in Wales and so are the team. No more cross-channel ferries. No more French motorways. No more "un coffee creme, trois bieres et l'addition, s'il vous plait monsieur"  - at least not for a week. I have exchanged the seven-mile beach in La Baule, considerately placed just outside my hotel window, for the A48 west of Cardiff and the sight of an occasional plane coming in to land at what used to be known as Rhoose airport down near the Bristol Channel.

For now the sun is still shining, as it was in La Baule, Cardiff is decked out in traditional pre-match colours and Wales begin to believe they can beat Australia in their important Pool B match in Cardiff. Earlier this week I drove past the school I attended a million years ago and past the playing field. It adjoins Llandaff Cathedral, where I sang as a choirboy, and abuts Western Avenue in the capital. God    nows how many times I got the ball as a pimply-faced nine-year-old and charged with it, imagining I was some Welsh hero. I must have played cricket on the same field but funnily enough I have no recollection of doing so.

Pardonnez mon français

France and I go back a long way, not quite to Napoleonic times but certainly to the days of the earth closet, the old franc and General de Gaulle. It is fair to say that we have not always got on and it is also fair to say that it hasn't been my fault.