THE NEWSDESK: Spot the brutal and intimidating Welshmen - and one happy pundit (From South Wales Argus)

THE NEWSDESK: Spot the brutal and intimidating Welshmen - and one happy pundit

2:25pm Sunday 17th March 2013 in News By Maria Williams

Spot the brutal and intimidating Welshmen - and one happy pundit

MAKE no bones about it, what Wales did to England on Saturday was brutal and intimidating.

So said the great JPR Williams who knows a thing or two about intimidating and brutal.

He said the battle was lost at the anthems - and he was right. The English fans put up a good rendition of God Save The Queen, but you don't come to our house and take us on in close-harmony attack singing.

Never has Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau been sung with more venom than on Saturday.

Let's not forget that crunching Richard Hibbard challenge which was heard above the baying for blood in the Millennium Stadium and made our fillings rattle in our teeth 40 miles away.

Or the imperious hand-off to an English body who had the temerity to try to teach Justin Tipuric some physical education in the second half.

Every Wales fan knows a thing about brutal and intimidating because we have been on the receiving end of it during every test match against the All Blacks.

This England team came here with a good deal of respect from we Welsh fans because they have lost the swagger of the last incumbents and have been playing good rugby. It is a pity the same cannot be said for some of their fans and pundits.

This picture (above) circulating widely on social media, a screen grab from the BBC coverage, says it all. Spot the Welshman. Spot the pundit who went into half time telling everyone England had a superior bench.

Brian Moore did not set foot off the train in Newport but felt the need to tweet: "The winner of the most apposite town-twinning, as voted for by my followers, is - Newport twinned with Mordor."

Alas, poor Gollum. Only hours later the Welsh orcs had stripped him of his 'Precious'.

He, at least, had the grace to later tweet: "Congratulation to Wales; a dominant performance that was well planned and executed. Impressive in thought and deed and hugely physical."

Those who were still blaming the refereeing of Steve Walsh made me smile. Yep, Mr Walsh knocked the ball out of the hand of Manu Tuilagi during England's best chance, made the English front row stand up in the scrum, and failed to kick two penalties.

England are not the finished article and Saturday's game made that completely obvious.

They were outplayed in every area of the game. They were outrun, out-tackled, out-jackalled, out-scrimmaged.

And this England was, apart from two changes, the team which only a few months ago beat the All Blacks.

So what does that tell us? That Wales have been treating southern hemisphere sides with way too much respect and have allowed them to intimidate us.

That we need a core of steel running through our players to do the thing of which we all know Wales are capable.

That with a team which is capable of playing like they did on Saturday, the thing which has been holding Wales back is confidence.

Surely after what Wales did to England that can no longer be an issue.

After the All Blacks loss last November I wrote a column asking the Wales team to dig for fire. They weren't just on fire on Saturday, they found a furnace.

Now what we need to do is turn that heat in the direction where it belongs - south of the equator.

Dear Austin Healey,

We hereby claim our winnings after you lost your bet with the entire Welsh nation that we would not beat England by more than eight points.

We know you are now attemtping to welch on the deal by claiming you said the bet was off after discovering Steve Walsh was the referee - what great confidence you showed in your country's team with your squirming, We require you pay our winnings to the Ty Hafan Cancer Trust, a fantastic organisation which helps children with cancer across south Wales.

So, Mr Healey, unless you are from henceforth to be viewed as a joke, we suggest you pay up and put your money where your big mouth is.

Kind regards,

The Welsh