Heroes, lots of heroes, dressed in red. This was a day to compare with any in the proud history of a rugby country so tiny in terms of its productive sporting areas that you could almost jog around it. Any doubts that Wales are the best team in Europe, any doubts that they are anything other than an outstanding team in the making, were blown away. In rugby’s greatest stadium, we had one of the grandest Slams.

It is a measure of the Welsh performance that France came to play with ferocity, and were a minimum of 30 points better than at any stage of the season to date. Their coach finally grew up, chose his first team, and either side of half-time they came in avenging torrents of attacks, leaving Wales hanging on for dear life.

There was much that was magnificent about this Welsh team, but it was their defence that was almost beyond praise. They have conceded two tries in their campaign and yesterday, their courage and also their organisation was sensational, especially since dangerous men such as Vincent Clerc and Damien Traille were surging at them in midfield, with the flankers hammering on around the fringes. It is a triumph among triumphs for coach Shaun Edwards that a supercharged French team never looked like scoring a try.

Wales were the best defensive team in the tournament, but they were also the best attacking team, easily the most attractive and they had the best kicking game by yards and yards. Their forward play is developing as well, as they shunted France clean off their own ball at a scrum at a dangerous time in the shadow of the Welsh posts.

It was a victory won in the grandest manner. In fact, the end game sat easily on the shoulders of a Herculean match played with breathtaking pace and devil. Unless television pictures lied, it all seemed about two miles faster and three divisions more accomplished than events at Twickenham earlier. And the finale was orchestrated by one of the most sensational runs the Six Nations has ever seen, when Mark Jones burst out of his own 22 at the perfect angle, cut up the field weaving left and right, accelerated away and was hauled down only around two yards short of what would have been one of the most remarkable tries. But soon afterwards, the old red fox that is Martyn Williams burst clear, scored at the posts, and you would have sworn the Millennium stadium was levitating. Certainly, with the roof on, there could not have been a louder noise at any sporting occasion in history.

The outstanding Welsh player was Gavin Henson. He was magnificent all round the field, especially in breaking up French attacks. Mike Phillips had another extraordinary game at scrum-half, Lee Byrne crowed on towards a Lions Test spot, and the two Welsh wings were simply blistering.

Up front Ian Gough was a storm force alongside the elastic Alun Wyn Jones, and apart from the improved defending, it is the tenacity and energy of the forward play in which the Welsh revival is signalled.

It was an irony that Williams scored the final try. He was only persuaded to carry on this season by the silver and sharp tongue of Warren Gatland, and indeed this Welsh effort was so symbolic of what Gatland and Edwards have done – painfully symbolic for England, as both were available to them before they were snapped up by the hungry Welsh.

France at least acquitted themselves admirably, and even though they never really looked like bursting clear for a try, they were well in it until the hour, defended almost as well as Wales until the end, and in Fulgance Ouedraogo had a light flanker of some bril-liance.

But what are mere mortals against destiny, against the will of a nation, against the need to banish so many decades of rocky rugby roads, and against the defence of Edwards? Perhaps it was that defence that brought about the crucial try, the score which calmed Welsh nerves after 61 minutes, and the defence did nothing more than appear on the horizon. Yannick Jauzion had spent the whole game trying to hold off the thunderous defending of Tom Shank-lin and Henson, and as France tried another counter-attack Jauzion saw the power of two approaching at a fair lick. He dropped the ball and Shane Williams hacked it on, controlling his excitement to perfection and shepherding the ball over to score at the posts. It was his 41st try for Wales, a new record. No doubt the Osprey darling of the nation would willingly have forgone the other 40 for a moment like that.

That try took the score to 16-9, with a conversion by Stephen Jones – Gatland’s weekly master-stroke had been to bring on the Scarlet for the talented James Hook at a time when Wales were becoming too frantic in their attacking.

With 13 minutes to go, driving up the middle by the Welsh forwards brought Jones another penalty chance which he goaled for a 19-9 lead. Shortly after that, Wales drove France off the ball in that fateful scrum in one of those moments which sees opposing shoulders droop almost to the level of the ankles.