WENT FROM TITLE WINNERS
a much augmented role.
Under the tutelage of Stephen Jones, the offensive game has really stepped up a notch.
Wales have become such a clinical side, turning opportunities into tries with unerring regularity, showing such variety and imagination on the ball.
In their opening two games, they spent just two minutes 33 seconds in the opposition 22 and yet came away with six touchdowns.
That is some rate of return. As possession and territory increased during the tournament, so the tries flowed even faster, either through individual brilliance or collective enterprise.
It was just great to watch. PROP IDOLS
GOING into the tournament, everyone agreed it was vital that first-choice props Wyn Jones and Tomas Francis stayed fit.
Amid a number of injuries, they were the only experienced, strong-scrummaging props available.
Lose one of them and Wales were in trouble.
Well, they stayed fit and stayed the course – and how.
Loosehead Jones was on the field for 341 of the 400 minutes, while tighthead Francis wasn’t too far behind on 308.
Together they provided the scrum stability that had been lacking in the autumn, but they did much more than that.
Between them, they put in an eyewatering 106 tackles, while Jones made the second most carries in the team and Francis had the best ruck arrivals of anyone who played more than 200 minutes in the tournament.
It was some effort from the pair of them.
But what was also encouraging was the way their understudies stood up to the test when they were called into action.
Rhodri Jones made a solid contribution in the first three games, while Leon Brown was a revelation on the tighthead, particularly when he came on against Scotland, locking the scrum yards from the Welsh line.
All hail the prop idols. WINNING TIGHT GAMES
THIS is one very welcome lasting legacy from the Gatland era.
Under him, Wales had a knack of seeing out close contests and that’s been replicated under Pivac.
They held on at the death against Ireland and Scotland, while they came on strong in the final quarter to defeat England when the game was in the balance.
There is a resolve and a determination there that really bodes well.
They so nearly did it again in Paris, only to finally succumb in the dying seconds.
But, overall, the winning habit is restored – and it’s a good habit to have.
REES LIGHTNING
AND, finally, the player who has grabbed more headlines than anyone else during the campaign.
Louis Rees-Zammit had to bide his time during last year’s Six Nations, but having been blooded in the autumn, he has now come into his own.
He brings that much-quoted X-Factor, the ability to create something out of not very much at all. What a finisher he is, with that superb chip-and-chase effort against Scotland and the acrobatic execution versus Ireland.
There was an even more spectacular airborne effort against France and but for a matter of millimetres it would have brought Wales the Grand Slam.
Be sure, there will be many more magic moments to come from the young man.
A star has indeed been born, as an exciting new era has been launched in wonderfully unexpected trophy-winning fashion.