Wales' try hero Alex Cuthbert hails forwards (From South Wales Argus)

Wales' try hero Alex Cuthbert hails forwards

11:00am Monday 18th March 2013 in Sport By Iwan Davies

ALEX Cuthbert grabbed the headlines for his two memorable tries in the 30-3 demolition of England but the Wales wing was quick to acknowledge his magnificent forwards.

The 6ft 6in and 16st 3lb flyer’s brilliantly-taken 56th-minute first score from hooker Ken Owen’s turnover decisively tipped the balance in the home side’s favour.

And the second was a simple run in after the imperious openside Justin Tipuric, more skillful than any Wales back, tore England apart.

Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan, John F Kennedy once said.

In the post-match interviews with the press, the delight of the Wales players was palpable – in sharp contrast to the frowns and grimaces of the autumn series whitewash.

The modest 22-year-old Gloucester-born Cuthbert didn’t want to hog the limelight, preferring to praise the Wales pack as the real stars of Saturday’s remarkable show.

He quite rightly pointed out that this Six Nations title was built on the blood, sweat and tears of those slaving away in the engine room.

“I was fortunate enough to get on the end of two tries but I’ve got to give full credit to the forwards – they were unbelievable and have been throughout the whole tournament,” Cuthbert said.

“They have been great the whole competition. They are the guys who have won us the Six Nations.”

Wales got off to a terrible start, losing 30-22 to Ireland before going on a four-match winning streak with impressive victories over France, Italy, Scotland and, most sensational of all, England.

“I think we knew we could do it from the start – the Ireland defeat was a bit of a blip,” Cuthbert said.

“We’ve worked so hard over the last six weeks.

“We’ve got our hunger back and the forwards are on fire at the moment.

“They bullied England and I felt we were in command from the start.

“It was only a matter of time before we were going to break free.

“We took our chances and we were clinical.”

Cuthbert, who has a knack of scoring big game tries after his touchdown sealed last year’s Grand Slam win over France, thinks the weekend’s remarkable victory tops the clean sweep of 2012.

“It was unbelievable to be 30-3 up with ten minutes to go – the fans were loving it and the players were enjoying the occasion,” he said.

“I have never felt like this before. I have spoken to a few of the boys and they said it was a better feeling than winning the Grand Slam last year.

“I can’t explain it – it hasn’t sunk in yet. The atmosphere was amazing.”