Matthew Knott

Was England Wales' greatest challenge? This is the question I ask myself after seeing the ferocity of the game and Wales claiming victory despite the overwhelming pressure of being favorites.

Wales have always been one of those teams that flourish as underdogs, and flounder againt weak teams that should be a doddle to beat. My fear for this weekend is that wales would either be too relaxed or too pressured to string together the sort of performance needed to beat an England team looking to silence their critics.

Wales started strongly, kicking their penalties and building the score, but in a moment, Paul Sackey scored and set the advantage to a handful of points. The game was strongly contested, with both sides defending valiantly. Joe Worsley deserving of his man of the match performance, despite being on the loosing side. I've honestly never seen him put in such an efort, often typifying a lazy arrogant England side, but hats off to him he gave it everything, and for me was reminiscent of Ian Goughs performances last year.

With both teams having so much to overcome outside of the 80 minutes in terms of media and fan pressure, and considering the added pressure on the Welsh that this is the England game, historically a game that if won, made other results irrelevant, then this was Wales' toughest game they could face.

Looking ahead then. France, poor against scotland at home, better against Ireland away. Ultimately a very unbalanced team with a manager still not settled on a squad that plays well and delivers a French performance we've come to expect. They will be feeling great pressure from the hugely critical French media. The hope here for Wales is that this does not galvanize them but rather plays heavily on their minds forcing errors.

Italy have this weekend proved that they are a threat but still, despite having some hugely talented individuals, cannot play effectively as a team. Wales should crush them. Will we see the return of Henson for this game?

Ireland, finally, at home. Probably the hardest remaining game of the 6 nations, probably the tournament decider, again. I think back to 2005 fondly, the last game was against Ireland, Wales of course won, and were awarded the Grand Slam. Ireland, whilst being strong so far, still haven't put in a conclusive performance. I'm not sure Wales will be able to beat them, home or otherwise, I can but hope and pray that the fiver I bet on Ireland to get the Grand Slam does it's magic and Wales record back-to-back Grand Slam's for the first time ever.

Cymru am byth