WALES is loyal to the romantic sentiment where rugby is concerned. Talk to a Welshman about the sport and he soon embarks on an odyssey of passion imbued with a poetic imagination. The grand-slam victory against Ireland is already the stuff of fantasy, already part of a folklore to which the high and the low will seek to be attached.

When Wales play, the manner of achievement counts as much as the score. There was a flight of fancy about their play against Ireland that they maintained throughout, even when the contest was at its height and the result in the balance. They did not betray their vision.

This sense of fantasy does not ignore the tough chores in the forward powerhouse. Indeed it is integral to the ideal. In the past the miner and the steelworker combined fruitfully with the grammar school boys and formed part of the sense of what Wales recognised as its classless self.

The present crop of forwards maintained Wales’s fluid game. They came up against bigger and, collectively, more powerful men but were never subdued. Brent Cockbain and Robert Sidoli may not have cemented a solid presence in the lineout but their contribution elsewhere, in defence and attack, was immense.

Living the dream may not be altogether fanciful. For too long Wales have attempted to copy others, which, physically as well as mentally, they could not do. The Wales pack is not of English, French or Irish content. It is not forged in the same way. Wales needed to offer something different. The Wales coaches have failed consistently, especially during the past decade as the game turned professional, by preferring to imitate rather than innovate. Time has been lost.

The late Carwyn James, the 1971 British Isles coach, once asked a Wales coach at a press conference whether he selected players according to his rugby philosophy or found a way of playing based on the various gifts of the players available. It is a moot point. Does the coach see himself as the fount of all knowledge, with all the prejudices that this might entail, or is he open-minded enough to play the game according to the talent on view? This question went unanswered, the coach unwilling to commit himself.

The first proposition might be interpreted as dictatorial, imposing on a team a set of pre-conceived ideas. With the unthinking this might work, but not if an agile mind is required to rethink matters during the heat of battle. Tactics require thought, not blind observance. In the second option an element of trust is demanded, the onus placed firmly on the players’ shoulders.

The point is raised in relation to Mike Ruddock, whose influence in charge of Wales must account for their sudden return to prominence. It is not the first time he has enjoyed rapid success. He has claimed a grand slam in his first season with Wales just as, in his first season at Swansea in 1991-92, he led his club to the league title.

His approach may help to define his team. Upon being appointed to Swansea, he asked the players how they wished to play the game. Rather than tell them what to do, he sought to find out what they wished for themselves. He put his trust in them and the same, it is said, has happened with the Wales team. It is the players’ game, not an imposition of his will. As a consequence, Wales have played creative rugby in a style that belongs to them all. It can also be said that they are moving the game on.

In the Scotland game, the ball, according to Alun Carter, the Wales video analyst, was in play for 43 minutes, or 46 per cent of the match time. This is the highest recorded in a northern-hemisphere international. The average for the season in which Wales played was 36 minutes. This compares with 33 minutes in the 2003 World Cup, while it was only 24 minutes in 1991. In 1978, the last time Wales won the grand slam , the ball was in play for less than 20 minutes.

Therefore, to attempt to compare, as some have tried to do, the performance of this year’s team to that of 1978 is clearly a nonsense. Time and circumstances have changed.

To take examples from other sports, should, for instance, Roger Bannister be compared to Sebastian Coe? Is there any point in placing Lew Hoad in the same light as Pete Sampras? Rocky Marciano and Mike Tyson? It is an entertaining pastime to idle away an hour or so, but no more than that. For this Wales team the burden of the past has been lifted and the new boys on the block must hope to move onwards and upwards, a proud tradition, romantic or not.