“How you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you win”.

GK Chesterton (1874-1936)

This Guinness Six Nations championship was always going to be a tough one for Wales.

After restoring pride at the Rugby World Cup in France, injuries and retirements, along with the perilous state of the club game in Wales, result in a crop of youngsters having to be exposed to the brutal environment of international rugby much earlier than would ordinarily be expected.

Wales have lost their opening two matches in this years tournament at home to Scotland by a single point, and away to England by two.

So as the tournament takes a weekend break it is already evident there will be no bread of heaven for the men in red this season, but there are some crumbs of comfort.

Cameron Winnett

The boy from Llantrisant looks to the manor born on the international stage, as safe as houses under the high ball, wonderful positional sense and a wicked turn of pace, still only twenty-one his potential is limitless.

Alex Mann

The fly half factory in Wales has been bought out by “Back Row Forwards Unlimited”, and yet another top of the range model has rolled out of the showroom, two tries in his first two internationals and plenty of grunt, a real find.

Rio Dyer

Looks better with every game, now getting much more involved in looking for the ball ,looks threatening every time he gets the ball, and has more gas than Russia and Saudi Arabia combined.

Tommy Reffell

Tommy Reff has been at the scene of more breakdowns than the AA, the Tiger has had his paws on so much opposition ball and was instrumental in setting up Alex Mann’s beautiful try at Twickenham.

Aaron Wainwright

The Dragons number 8 looks like a mild mannered Open University lecturer off the field, but on it he has been a beast. Played like a runaway train against Scotland and is on track to nail down that legendary shirt.

Discipline

Discipline has been excellent from Wales, they did not concede a single penalty in the second half against Scotland, and also the entire first half against England, they only gave away a total of 9 penalties across both games.

Tries

Wales have scored Six tries in the opening two rounds through Alex Mann (2), Aaron Wainwright, Rio Dyer, James Botham and a penalty try.

Bonus Points

The three bonus points earned could prove invaluable come the end of tournament, Wales got two losing points in their opening two matches plus a try scoring bonus point against Scotland.

So Next weekend Wales travel to Dublin probably their toughest task of all. They will then return to Cardiff for their final two games of the tournament against France on Mothering Sunday and Italy six days later.

There may be no bread of heaven this year, but those crumbs of comfort might well turn into a pretty decent sandwich before 2024 ends.