At Croke Park on Saturday, as indeed has been indicated all season, it was evident that much more can be expected of this Wales team. There is much promise. In each of the RBS Six Nations Championship games they have shown glimpses of a strong streak of creativity lying at the heart of what they are trying to accomplish; there is a deftness and a pace - and a hard core, too.

Despite the premature judgments made at Twickenham at the start of the championship, which leaned towards England's missed chances and dissipation of their energy, as opposed to Wales's correction of first-half failures and their gathering momentum, there was much inspiration in their play. There have been moments of nice touches and cleverness ever since. They do not stick to a rigid, unchangeable pattern.

The hope must be that, having achieved the triple crown without a fully illustrated comprehensive style, they manufacture a more rounded wholeness to get their hands on a grand slam - or, as Shaun Edwards, the defence coach, insists, “it is the championship we are going for.”

And yet whatever colourful ambition lies within the team - and Shane Williams's try in Dublin is in keeping with this longing - it was the hard graft at stopping Ireland gaining the hard yards that set Wales on the road to victory. There is a terrific resolve in the Wales team and even though two yellow cards were issued on Saturday, there is a strong discipline and mental hardness. Their defence is tight and all-encompassing, allowing nothing for their opponents to gain. If there are classical skills within the team and the desire to attack in all areas, it is their tough mental qualities that makes the difference this season. It was this that carried them through, especially when they were twice reduced to 14 men.

They also took a leaf out of Ireland's book. With their men from Munster, Ireland can close down a game and limit their play to keeping the ball, frustrating the life out of the opposition. Munster, with a fine appreciation of what it takes to win a match in difficult circumstances, simply refuse to give the ball away. And so it has been with Ireland, as indicated in the manner they began Saturday's match, with close control and powerful drives.

But it was Wales's turn on Saturday to play down the clock, suggesting a maturing hard edge and a developing sense of how to win a game, absent since the last time they won the grand slam, in 2005.

Warren Gatland, when first introduced to his post as head coach at the start of this season, asked for patience and to expect a team to come together with a strong reputation at the end of two years. It was then that Wales should expect their national team to be of truly international class.

This is as it should be. This is a young team already showing that there is much potential that will come to fruition in the period that Gatland expects. Curiously, these are the same players who performed rather indifferently last season and during the World Cup. Gatland, Edwards and Rob Howley have instilled into all these players the will to win and a respect for the jersey they wear.

Everyone within this management team must be astonished to find themselves in pole position in the Six Nations. The whole of Wales is in the same condition, hardly capable of believing that they are in with a good chance of winning the grand slam for the second time in four seasons.