AFTERNOONS such as Saturday in Cardiff restore your faith not only in rugby but also in sport’s capacity to elevate the spirit. To witness a team remaining true to their ideals, playing with a smile and such patent enjoyment of their skills and self-belief does wonders for us all, not only Wales, who now clutch proudly to their collective chest the grand slam in the RBS Six Nations Championship.

Eight of their starting XV were not born when Wales previously won a slam, in 1978, yet they have demonstrated a maturity beyond their years, perhaps because they have been force-fed on adversity for so long. It should not have been this way, against an Ireland team packed to the gunwales with experience and still searching for the championship title to mark what will be probably the last hurrah for several players.

But the Irish have marched steadily backwards in what seemed an international season designed for them. They have come to resemble that nearly-team of the Heineken Cup, Munster, when they should have done better; a team who relaxed into rugby’s true rhythms only when the chips were down and the match all but lost. It took the removal of Ronan O’Gara, the Munster fly half, when Ireland were staring at a 16-point deficit, before they were able to create sustained variety that examined the Wales defence.

So the slam, the championship and the triple crown — Wales have not enjoyed either of the last two since 1994 — went to the team who had been told by Mike Ruddock, their coach, to play without fear. “It’s not a game of ‘we can’t’ but ‘we can’,” he said and throughout their five matches, his players have proved his point.

Not only did they score more tries (17) than any other team, they made more line breaks, more tackles and conceded fewer penalties than their rivals. Issues of discipline, defence and conditioning have been addressed and all three elements were present at the Millennium Stadium, as was the squad ethos, which has been a central tenet of their season. Michael Owen took over the captaincy from the injured Gareth Thomas and has grown in stature as a player, while Mark Taylor, who had not played this year because of illness and injury, appeared on the right wing when Rhys Williams cried off with a cramped calf muscle.

Wales, moreover, had the confidence to ride out a good start by Ireland and which would have served them well had Ireland, trailing by ten points at the time, scored after a slashing break by Denis Hickie. The support of Geordan Murphy and Girvan Dempsey brought a try-saving tackle out of Stephen Jones, who has become a pivotal figure for his team. A specialist wing might have made the line where Dempsey could not, but on this day, it is hard to believe that Wales would have been thrown off course.

Gavin Henson had cast his well-groomed shadow with a dropped goal spinning off an Irish finger and a penalty goal from his own half; critically, though, Gethin Jenkins had scored a try by charging down O’Gara’s kick — after Ireland had forced a turnover — and kicking on to score. O’Gara’s self-belief looked shaken; Ireland’s record points-scorer rushed his defence, which not only threw the back division out of alignment but led to penalties against his team and, after 52 minutes, he was replaced by David Humphreys.

By then Wales had the ascendancy, on the pitch and on the scoreboard. They shrugged off lineout losses — four in all — their passing game was in full flow and Tom Shanklin in midfield played the game of his 25-year-old life. He has brought a rigour to the Wales midfield and gives his back row a target to hit, and when that back row contains ball-handlers of the quality of Owen and his flankers, the momentum is hard to resist.

So, Stephen Jones was able to chip over two close-range penalty goals while O’Gara missed one from long range and Anthony Foley was denied a try in the corner by the smallest Welshman on the pitch, Shane Williams. The wing is not picked for his defence as much for his dancing feet, but after Johnny O’Connor and Murphy had opened the way, Williams bumped Foley on to the touchline just before the Ireland No 8 could plant the ball down.

While Robert Sidoli and Paul O’Connell exchanged views on the floor after the subsequent lineout, Wales looked for the decisive score and found it on the hour. Owen made ground before establishing a ruck, Martyn Williams served his backs and a delightful flat pass by Stephen Jones gave Shanklin a powerful run into the heart of the defence. Kevin Morgan took up the perfect angle to accept the pass and beat Hickie to the line.

It was the epitome of the game Wales wanted to play. There was still the final quarter, in which Ireland, never short of character, even if the sum of their parts has not amounted to what they hoped, could hit back and they did with tries by Marcus Horan, from a tapped penalty, and Murphy, from Humphreys’s lofted diagonal kick. But by now the hymns and arias were resounding round the stadium and Wales, in every sense, had found their way home.

HOW THEY LINED UP

SCORERS: Wales: Tries: Jenkins (17min), Morgan (61). Conversions: S Jones 2. Penalty goals: S Jones 4 (33, 43, 51, 74), Henson (24). Dropped goal: Henson (13). Ireland: Tries: Horan (69), Murphy (77). Conversions: Humphreys 2. Penalty goals: O’Gara 2 (3, 37).

SCORING SEQUENCE (Wales first): 0-3, 3-3, 10-3, 13-3, 16-3, 16-6 (half-time), 19-6, 22-6, 29-6, 29-13, 32-13, 32-20.

WALES: K Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons); M Taylor (Llanelli Scarlets), T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues), G Henson (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), S Williams (Neath-Swansea Ospreys); S Jones (Clermont Auvergne), D Peel (Llanelli Scarlets); G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), M Davies (Gloucester; rep: R McBryde, Llanelli Scarlets, 72), A Jones (Neath-Swansea Ospreys; rep: J Yapp, Cardiff Blues, 70), B Cockbain (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), R Sidoli (Cardiff Blues), R Jones (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), M Owen (Newport Gwent Dragons, captain).

IRELAND: G Murphy (Leicester); G Dempsey (Leinster Lions), B O’Driscoll (Leinster Lions, captain), K Maggs (Ulster), D Hickie (Leinster Lions); R O’Gara (Munster; rep: D Humphreys, Ulster, 52), P Stringer (Munster); R Corrigan (Leinster Lions; rep: M Horan, Munster, 62), S Byrne (Leinster Lions; rep: F Sheahan, Munster, 62), J Hayes (Munster), M O’Kelly (Leinster Lions; rep: D O’Callaghan, Munster, 66), P O’Connell (Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli Scarlets), J O’Connor (London Wasps), A Foley (Munster; rep: E Miller, Leinster Lions, 66).

Referee: C White (England).

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