WALES have — I have — supped too long and too deep from the bitter glass of discontent and of crushing indignity. Defeat followed defeat so that to follow them had become initially an embarrassment and finally a source of humiliation. Wales for so long could not escape the spiral of failure and to travel alongside them around the world was to be in a constant mood of apology in trying to answer the inevitable question: what has happened to Wales?

That it was ever likely to change even two short years ago, when every game was lost, appeared to be a forlorn and desperate hope. Wales were left to wonder what triumph was. Yet in the twinkling of an eye, fortune has smiled on a nation whose field of dreams belongs to rugby.

On Saturday, in a stadium bathed in sunlight, Wales lifted the cup of cool vintage. Since it was so rare, the pleasure, so hard to remember, was infinitely sweet and snugly intoxicating. At least, for this passing moment, a reputation that had been so hard-fought for over a century but so easily lost in two decades, has been redeemed.

Cut down to size at every turn by nations eager to avenge their humbling by Wales in earlier days, Wales’s rugby rulers compounded the failure by seeming to embrace defeat, unable or unwilling to reverse the trend. Success they saw as a burden to weigh down the future and not an inspiration for a revival.

Not so this team. They would be no one’s marionettes and would not dance to another’s tactical tune. They would strike out on their own and be their own masters. Young at heart, with glistening aspiration, new and fresh, the zest and boldness of this Wales team are reminders and confirmation that there is a way of playing that makes a Welshman’s pulse race. Wales must heed that instinct.

Wales needed success and to win after so long in no man’s land was of the essence. Yet they longed for more. There is a romantic vision that lies deep-rooted in Welsh rugby. Winning must be accomplished with a certain style. As well as strength and power there must be beauty and individual expression. Alongside the brute force there are twinkling toes; among the toiling sweat there is freedom in the fresh air. There must be drama and derring-do as well as the rough and tumble.

It is a dream, but truth to tell, since Wales played New Zealand in the World Cup in 2003, these young players have tried to live that dream. If they have played the game, they regularly lost the contest. Until, that is, Gavin Henson kicked the last-minute penalty goal against England in their first match of this RBS Six Nations Championship. What had been so elusive was suddenly at their fingertips. They had tasted what it was like to win.

Yet for all the freedom they desire in their game, for all the attractive up-tempo style and the slick and confident handling of the ball, their strongest asset has been their stubbornness, the unwillingness to let go. In the unforgiving moment between triumph and disaster, between letting slip and holding firm, Wales have grabbed that brief time to chase victory and not ail.

In every game their character has been sorely tested. As England did in the closing stages of their match, each subsequent team have relentlessly tested Wales’s resilience and capacity to withstand threatening onslaughts. Ireland were no exception on Saturday. But this team have grown to understand what it takes to remain in the winning habit.

Yet there is no security in this team. There is no overwhelming authority of the kind England, France and Ireland enjoy among the forwards. Instead, for Wales, there is a lightness of touch that is their true strength; of a game played with crisp thinking, swift hands and dancing feet. It is the rapier, not the bludgeon. It is no exaggeration to say that Wales have refreshed and revitalised the view of European rugby.

Their confident running has been full of surprises. Not least of these surprises is the way that the forwards mingle with the backs, with their delicate interpassing. This has been a revelation. However, it is premature to say, as some are ready to point out, that Wales have “arrived”. Much better to observe that they are merely embarking on a journey, and an exciting one at that. The next four years hold the prospect of an adventurous time for what is a young team. But the players need to be aware that, just as the individual player who bursts in wonderful fashion on the scene in his first season, more testing times lie ahead, when expectation needs to be satisfied again and again.

For the time being, the eager faces of this Wales team playing the exuberant rugby that they do are living out the dreams of their nation.

How many players from the new Six Nations champions will make the Lions squad? Join the debate