Book description
In the glory years of the 1970s, Wales won three grand slams in eight
seasons. But rarely since then had the men in red started a Six
Nations campaign armed with expectation rather than hope. 2012 was different.
The previous year they had come within a kick of reaching the World
Cup final, losing by a point to France despite playing for the last
hour with 14 men after their captain, Sam Warburton, had been sent off
for a dangerous tackle.
The question when they returned home was how they would cope with
the heartache. The answer came in their first match in the 2012 Six
Nations Championship. In Dublin against Ireland, the team they had
knocked out in the World Cup quarter-final, revenge was on the menu.
Wales went there without five of their leading forwards and lost
Warburton to injury at half-time. They were trailing by six points
with five minutes to go and had a player in the sin-bin. The old Wales
would have folded but, as in Life on Mars, it was back to the
spirit of the 1970s.
This Wales team came back fighting to win not only the game but to
sweep the board in the whole tournament, bringing home a Welsh grand
slam for the third time in eight years and establishing a strong and
exciting team for the future.
Paul Rees is the vastly respected rugby correspondent for
The Guardian
and the highly acclaimed author of
Glam Slam: Year of the Dragon
(2005) and
The Resurrection Men: Wales' Grand Slam 2008
.
