The last seven weeks have been the longest of my life!
I was too tired (and hung over) yesterday to put pen to paper but now, in the cold light of day, I can begin to acknowledge the huge achievement of this Welsh team and all its backroom staff.
Cynics may complain that the other nations were not at their best but you can only play what is put before you and our lads showed commitment, passion, skill and fitness to beat and, in some cases, destroy the opposition. England, Scotland, Italy, Ireland, France - not one team could handle us. After our dismal, first half display at HQ we never looked like losing.
Well done to all of them. They had a mountain to climb after the disappointment of the World Cup. But, with a new coaching team (of the highest quality) and the removal of certain senior players whose egos had caused a wealth of problems, this small squad showed what can be done. The 'Welsh Way' still exists but it is now a more mature system implemented by players who had leadership and direction yet were still given the freedom to be themselves.
I take my hat off to Gatland. We all knew he was a good coach. Now we know he is something special. New Zealand's loss is our gain. Bringing in Edwards was a stroke of genius although I still fear he won't be with Wales very long. England would be mad not to make a move for him now but, there again, they aren't very bright over the border, are they? So maybe Shaun will stay with us until 2010. I hope so!
Saturday was an awesome performance from 1 to 15. Okay, so we had to defend for long periods but when did France actually threaten our line? Not at all. One scrum in our 22 is the best they achieved and then we pushed them off the ball. How good was that? I am so glad Shane is now top of the tree for tries scored. He deserves the position and won it fair and square. I can't see Wilkinson being as proud of his points record given that he only achieved it when the powers-that-be conveniently and retrospectively made the Lions 'friendly' against Argentina a full test! Shame on them!!!!!
(One more point about Shane. Will he say 'Ben who?' now, as Cohen is no longer around while our little lad goes from strength to strength. Got the last laugh, didn't he?)
The MIllennium Stadium was a cauldron of noise at the end of the match on Saturday and we all joined in the celebrations at the end when the players paraded the Cup around the field.
My only complaint is - why get Prince William involved? Whoever made him a WRU VP should be shot. The man is English, he supports England and I bet he would have preferred to have been at Twickers on Saturday instead of in Cardiff. He looked uncomfortable up on the podium and didn't know what to do with himself. Once a few of the players had, deliberately or inadvertently, dashed past him without shaking his hand, he moved back out of the receiving line but looked even more uncomfortable then. I'm no Royalist but even I felt sorry for him.
He didn't rain on our parade though but it was a close call! Not that I'm going to let a small thing like that uspet me. I am still on a high and can't wait for the lads to go to South Africa in June. I wonder if I can get time off from work to follow them? I'd better start being nice to my boss, I think.