We took people by surprise in 2008, just like this team now

After the 2007 World Cup and losing to Fiji and not making the quarter-finals, there was no massive expectation on us in 2008. It was a great time for a coach to come in, with a group of players who were good but had lost a bit of identity and who needed to be stripped back to basics. Warren Gatland sort of moulded us. He had a vision, which was great.

Gats came in at the perfect time, coaching a fairly young squad who needed a bit of guidance. And he gave us that in a real basic format. We were looking around the room thinking, ‘Is that it?’ But it worked.

All we needed was a blueprint of how we were going to break teams down, and to stick to it. I look back now, and that was not there before.

Gatland brought professionalism – culture, attitude, a bit of ruthlessness as well. That was bred into us in training. He wanted you to train so hard that games were easy, which is quite difficult to do.

We were not expected to win a Grand Slam in 2008, like in 2005 and with Wales now. In those situations, you do take teams by surprise. Teams think you are down on your luck and then all of a sudden, with your backs against a wall, a bit of luck and good discipline, the coin is flipped.

The game where we first thought the Grand Slam was possible was probably Ireland away. England at the start – the first win in 20 years at Twickenham – was a great result, but we were not thinking, ‘This is it’.

The fixture schedule plays such a huge part and after England we had Scotland and Italy at home. Ireland at Croke Park was always going to be the tough one. We knew if we could do that, we could go on to win it. In 2005, it was the middle game against France. For Wales, in this Six Nations, it was England at home. There is always one game, it is normally in the middle, which is the turning point. Where you start to think it is possible.

Relief poured out after defeating France at the end in 2008. You work so hard to get into that position – four wins from four – it would have been soul-destroying not to win the Grand Slam.

Maybe we felt a little vindicated [after 2007]. Being knocked out before a quarter-final, the press is not great. But a lot of the group at that World Cup were Grand Slam winners from 2005. It was a relief to put 2007 to bed and brush it out of your mind, because it was a huge low, probably the worst we experienced. It was a relief to move on, and everyone was happy that we had someone in charge who had a clear idea of how he wanted us to play. It felt like a good place to be.