28th March

At 3.00 am this morning we arrived home from our holiday in Kenya and words fail me in my attempt to describe the time we had with Mary's brother David and his wife Liz. "Awesome" would be an understatement, so I don't intend to say anything for a day or two and just let things sink in and let the best memories come to the surface. In addition, as well as some comments on what we did, I will put some of the photos we have taken on Flickr.

The first Sunday we were in Kenya I was woken by a text message from Lucy, my daughter, bringing me the news that Wales had beaten England in the Six Nations by 27 points to 18; 22 points of which were scored by James Hook. Sometimes it's so good to be alive!!
To many Welsh supporters it will not matter one jot that Wales have lost the previous four matches of the tournament as long as they have beaten England. That makes it a good season. Even some columnists in the Welsh newspapers are talking along the lines of "all is now OK because we have beaten the old enemy." What a sad and pathetic attitude and one I suspect may be responsible for our repeated failure to perform to our full potential against other nations.I am obviously thrilled that we aren't the wooden spoon holders and that a star has finally been born, but what other reason can there be as to how a team that can beat England so convincingly can also play so badly against Scotland and Italy, other than that the myth of "all that matters is that we beat England" has been so deeply engrained in the national psyche that even the players believe it. I appreciate that this season there is very little between the six sides but I am wondering if a side that can play as well as Wales did in their final match and as well as they did to win the 2005 championship are, on other occasions, just plain lazy! If the supporters really believe the "as long as we beat England" lie; and if some sports journalists in the Principality support that, could it be possible that even the players themselves believe it and so never fire on all four cylinders for other matches?
Excuses abound but, with the exception of James Hook, Gareth Thomas and Gavin Henson, this is vitually the same team that won the 2005 championship, and then everyone hailed them as the team of the future because they were, and still are, so young. Yet now they are talkng about this latest victory as being the start of their rebuilding. Weren't they talking about rebuilding under Steve Hanson, three or four years ago. How often and how many times within four years do you need to rebuild? To me this does not make sense. They use the fact that their new coach has only been in position for a year as another reason why they have not "gelled" this season; but their last coach, Mike Ruddock, was in office for less time than this when he led them to their 2005 championship win. I wonder what excuses they will use when they get knocked out of the early rounds of the World Cup or when they fail to produce the goods in next years Six Nations? Nobody would be happier than me if all I have just said was to be proved wrong by an outrageously victorious Welsh team who capture every bit of silverware available over the next 12 months. I am Welsh and whatever the result of their last match may have been I will be shouting for my side to win - I just wish they would do so a little more regularly ! Cymru Am Byth!