The doubters lie wallowing in their wake, the whole sorry lot of us. It would take a brave man to say that Wales will not win the Grand Slam by beating France in Cardiff next weekend; a bitter cynic to say that they would not thoroughly deserve it; and a dullard to deny the attractive exuberance with which they play. The Millennium stadium, the grandest stage in world rugby, is ready to acclaim what would be the greatest comeback Slam in European rugby history.

For me, Dublin was always Wales’s acid test and I freely admit I doubted that at this early stage in the development of the team that they had the steel to win there. Now the job is done, I am sure Wales can beat France (or at least, they can beat the team that Marc Lièvremont has reduced France to). Cue hymns and arias.

Wales will be arriving home from Dublin having absorbed every lesson, with confidence high and yet still with so much improvement left in them. At this rate, they are going to have the biggest representation of all the home unions in the British and Irish Lions team in South Africa in 2009. People may even deduce that, after the gap of a mere 90 years, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) is functioning again. All highly satisfactory for what has been for too long a beleaguered rugby nation.

A Grand Slam would also ratify an early bid by Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards and Robert Howley as coaches of the year and, given that it is only five months since Wales were bundled out of the World Cup by Fiji, coaches of the decade. For heaven’s sake, this is arguably the greatest trio since The Supremes.

The approach to this Grand Slam is markedly different from that of the last Wales triumph in 2005. There was never the sense then of an impending hegemony despite the merit of their win, because they were short of true Test class and cover in too many positions – something that was savagely illustrated when injury denuded them the season after completing the Grand Slam and they struggled desperately. This time Wales have a growing depth, win or lose on Saturday. They do need to fast-track two potentially brilliant young Ospreys, Richard Hibberd at hooker and Ben Lewis on the openside flank, to give them real clout in those key positions. They are short of true menace at hooker, and even though Martyn Williams is playing as though he can go on until the age of 55 on the flank, he isn’t going to last that long. Hence the need for Lewis.

Elsewhere, Wales are well served. A few more megatons of power in the scrum would be welcome, and these days they could even absorb injury and thrive. At centre, half-back and in the back row, they have as much Test class as any other country in the world. Gatland is allowing his players to reveal it.

It is also different this time from the glory/heartbreak of 2005 because the players in the inner cabal that ran that team (and then blew it to bits) have either been demoted from the squad or put firmly in their place. Gatland and his coaches are calling each and every shot, and if they do win (or even if they lose), there will be no shady meetings between squad members and the WRU to whine about Gatland, as there were about Mike Ruddock, the deposed coach in 2005.

Naturally, France will have a say and can still take the title. If they do, it will be a sad comment on the true technical strength of the Six Nations this year. It has been thrilling and compelling, but if a team can take the title after the nonsensical shuffling and incoherence of Lièvremont’s selections, and the studied pose of his drafting of a bunch of hopeful (and in several graphic cases, hopeless) youngsters, then it suggests that the opposition must have been a great deal more pathetic than we thought.

On Friday, a French journalist rang to ask if I had been misquoted or maybe mistranslated when I said that Lièvremont had betrayed the Six Nations and Test rugby by not choosing his best team at all times. I had to tell him I was sorry that my comments had come out so mildly. Have any of the trendies and poseurs who see great merit in Lièvremont’s posturing and confetti caps been to an international “friendly” football match and seen how easy it is to devalue a magnificent activity with endless experiments and replacements?

Of course, if Lièvremont should throw out his infant half-backs, team up Damien Traille and Yannick Jauzion in midfield, choose some forwards who need to shave more than once a month and a team that is intent on beating Wales rather than waving to their parents in the stand, then they have every chance. Otherwise, a Welsh team built to win will win.

And the sideshow? It seems that England’s chances of rounding off the season on Saturday with any shred of respectability rests on the paparazzi having a night in as squad members drop off their tickets in nightclubs, and on England proving they have any mental toughness left to deal with Ireland. Last year at Croke Park it was tough versus mush and Ireland won with galloping ease. However, such are the pitiful limitations of England as an attacking unit that an Ireland win seems a raging certainty.

As the event rushes to its climax, it seems a long way from half-time at Twickenham in February, when Wales had hardly fired a shot. It seemed that the Gatland era would be a long grind to respectability. Some of us have been slow to join the acclaim, but by next Saturday evening we may well find that we are being drawn into something that is irresistible.

The great Welsh revival

2005 March: Decades of misery came to an end when Mike Ruddock coached Wales to their first Grand Slam for 27 years, by beating Ireland 32-20 in Cardiff

November: The first rumblings of player discontent were heard as Wales lost 45-3 to New Zealand and 33-16 to South Africa although they beat Australia

2006 February: Wales were thrashed 47-13 by England in their Six Nations opener at Twickenham and the rift grew when members of the squad broke Ruddock’s postmatch curfew to go to a nightclub. Wales beat Scotland 28-18, but two days later Ruddock resigned. Senior players had complained to WRU chief executive, Steve Lewis, the week before the match about his lack of leadership. Scott Johnson took over as coach

May: The Wales coaching job went to Gareth Jenkins, the experienced Scarlets coach who was a popular choice

November: Wales refused to let New Zealand perform their Haka and were blitzed 45-10 by the Kiwis

2007 Wales beat England in the last game of the Six Nations but were destroyed 62-5 at Twickenham in a World Cup warm-up

October: Wales failed to make the World Cup quarterfi nals and Jenkins was out of a job

November: Warren Gatland, inset, took over and assembled a top coaching crew of Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley. Wales were reborn and headed for a possible Grand Slam