Tom Shanklin column

Tom Shanklin Wales centre

....And so the expectancy grows.

The hopes of the Welsh public have gone through the Millennium Stadium roof.

The boys have gone from World Cup zeroes to potential Grand Slam heroes in just 240 minutes of rugby - such is the crazy world we live in.

While the optimism continues to explode among the people, we must remain realistic as we cannot allow our extremely high standards to slip.

As I ran towards the try-line I kept telling myself 'just don't drop it!'

Only sheer hard graft and attitude have earned us three Six Nations victories from three.

People have said some of this squad will join the pantheon of Welsh rugby greats should we conquer all for a second time, but let's just hang on a minute...

This team must not and will not get ahead of ourselves and wonder about 'what ifs' as any side that does nearly always sees their dreams end in tears.

The final straight of this Six Nations is when the going really does get tough.

Our opener against England at Twickenham was extremely difficult but there was no weight of expectancy on our shoulders beforehand.

So the victory was a welcome surprise to both team and fans.

Scotland and Italy in Cardiff at home were slightly easier but Ireland in Dublin followed by France in Cardiff could hardly be any tougher.

Admittedly this tournament does have the occasional echo of that memorable 2005 Grand Slam-winning campaign as we shocked everyone by beating England first then have a pivotal game against Ireland.

But I believe we have a far stronger squad now than we did in 2005.

Then the team had been playing together and peaked to great affect.

But this squad has such strength in depth with two top-class players for virtually every position.

Guys like Mike Phillips, James Hook, Alun Wyn Jones, Ian Evans and Lee Byrne have all come in and impressed at the top level.

In fact I'd probably go so far as saying this is the strongest Wales squad I've been involved in.

But that counts for little if we have no success to show for it.

Our run-in is a real test of character for this team due to the expectation we're under.

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Good teams thrive under such pressure and we want to show we're a consistently good team.

We'll take the confidence from our unbeaten start into the Ireland game at Croke Park on 8 March and show we mean business.

Ireland are such a talented squad there is no danger of us under-estimating them - especially given our poor record in Dublin.

But we had not beaten England at Twickenham for a while either and our victory at HQ has given us the belief that we can beat the top teams in their own backyard.

Our emphatic win over Italy pleased us all, particularly me as I managed to crown my 50th cap with my first Welsh try for a year.

Having the honour of leading out the boys was a proud moment for me and my family.

As a kid I would have given anything to represent Wales just once so to realise my dream 50 times is very special.

My try came from a loose Italian pass and as soon as it came my way, it had my name on it.

But as I headed towards the try-line I kept telling myself 'just don't drop it' because I knew the importance of the score at a crucial time in the game.

Italy had failed to capitalise on their opportunities and it was important that we showed a ruthless edge.

Maintaining such an edge and high tempo will be crucial against Ireland and France.

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