Grand Spanking 2013

I want to be magnanimous...i really do, and this is not about England per se though the sweetness of such a comprehensive win always feels truer when you are facing such a quality side.

Was this a rout? not quite, only England perhaps could have stayed in this game until Cuthbert's 2nd try, still looking dangerous but without the cutting edge they had previously achieved from dominating the breakdown. No use having Tuilagi with a bashing 12. Few sides could have withheld the irresistible wave that surged across the hallowed turf today. I was sure England would compete but they just couldn't get into the game because Wales, for once, had decided they would not let them in. No clumsy pens, no soft turnovers. Beautiful total rugby.

Today was just complete rugby...from 1-15, only diminished by admittedly questionable decisions by Walsh at scrum time - i counted 3 very debatable pens - but what struck me was a tempered Wales, imbued with a seam of steely determination not to fold, not to do what us Welsh have become used to, to come out asleep and ship points.

More than anything else today Wales found belief in their own team, not its parts, but the team.

Commiserations to England, you are always a class act. Today, as I am sure anyone would admit, the best team won.

And more than anything fellow rugby fans, this game is something else and rugby was truly the winner today

1998
2000
2002
2006
2007 (warm up)

Absolute stuffings that crushed me inside.
Yesterday blew all that away.

Back to back champions and now a lions tour to comprehend. Luvz it!