Grand Slam Man Read Free Page B

want from my captain.
    Sam had a fantastic game that day at Twickenham, even though he was virtually playing on one leg. He led from the front and was quite rightly named Man of the Match. After about half an hour, he put in a crucial tackle on Manu Tuilagi when the powerful England centre looked certain to score a try. There was a stoppage of play after that and I remember watching a rerun on the big screen and thinking that was one hell of a tackle. He had no right to make it really, but he just dived head first at Tuilagi's legs and hauled him down. It was a fantastic effort and part of a great all-round performance from Sam on the day.
    The other member of the back row through the Grand Slam campaign was my Dragons teammate Toby Faletau.
    Toby is a law unto himself. It takes a while to get chatting to him because he's not only the politest guy you'd ever want to meet, he's also really shy. He does his talking by the way he plays. He is a world-class No 8 and he's only going to develop more. I don't know what he's made of, but the way he copes with the physical demands of the game is incredible. I'll say to him the day after a game, ‘How's your body feeling?' and he'll say, ‘Oh, I'm all right,' while I'm thinking, ‘I'm in bits here!'
    Toby prefers to stay out of the limelight. When he played for the Dragons last season, he was getting Man of the Match week after week. But I think he'd rather not have had it, because it meant he had to do a TV interview after each game!
    He's just a really humble guy. The more time you spend with him, the more you realise he's a good boy. It's great to have people like him in the squad.
    I really like playing with Sam and Toby. We seem to complement each other. The back row is such a big part of the game. If you can get on top of your opponents in that area it goes a fair way to winning the match. So you need balance. You need a six who does a lot of tackling and hits quite a few rucks, a seven who scavenges for the ball, and a No 8 who is the main ball carrier. That's a good back row and I like to think we've got that with myself, Sam and Toby.
    Those two guys were fantastic at Twickenham, where our victory was based on digging deep and taking our chances when they came. We looked in a bit of trouble when our flyhalf Rhys Priestland was sin-binned just after halftime. In the past, when we have gone down to fourteen men we have been punished, so this time we really tried to tighten things up. We looked to keep hold of the ball and it was the pickandgo area that was key. That period was crucial and it meant we were still in the game going into the closing stages.
    Then it was ‘super sub' Scott Williams who took the chance that mattered, producing the individual moment of the match, four minutes from time. Scott ripped the ball off Courtney Lawes, chipped ahead and won the race to touch the ball down. When he scored the try, I was still on the 22 just waving him on! It was a great effort.
    That key contribution from Scott again shows the strength in depth we have. He had come off the bench to replace the injured Jamie Roberts in the centre and he ended up winning the game for us. In our team you just know whoever comes on in a game is going to do a good job, and that keeps you on your toes for your place!
    Scott's try put us in front 19–12, but there was still work to do and a dramatic finish to come.
    We had managed to shut England out in terms of tries, but it was touch and go at the end.
    In the last minute of the game, the England winger David Strettle went over in the corner.
    I was running across the field and I didn't think it was a try. But the decision went up to the video referee and it was an agonising wait. We were desperate to know, but because the video screens are so high up you can't really see from the pitch. I couldn't make it out either way and I was just praying for the ref to signal ‘no try' and blow his whistle for the end of the game.
    When