Eddie Butler's Six Nations

When the air is cold, when nothing in the ground outside grows,

we come to life.

'Tipuric. Tipuric still going.

'To Cuthbert.

'Cuthbert's second try.'

For over 50 years, I have been watching it...

'Can he score? It would be a miracle if he could. He may well get there.

'And he has.'

..playing in it...

'He heads for the flag. Butler scores!'

..writing, commentating on it...

on good days...

AS COMMENTATOR: Wales can celebrate.

..difficult days and strange nights.

Tonight's headlines:

He is alleged to have driven a golf buggy on the M4.

I'm off on tour to feel its glow,

touch its madness...

'To compare me in a poll as one of Wales's most hated men,'

putting me between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden,

I kind of think, hold on a minute.

It does cast a strange spell.

It can be a bit weird, but it is so very dear to us.

When I was nine, a gang of us sat down in front of the television -

black-and-white - and watched the last game of the championship,

Wales - England. England were going for the title.

Wales hadn't won a game,

but we were more interested in an 18-year-old player picked to play in

his very first game.

'This is Jarrett.'

He was from our school in Monmouth

and it has been known ever since as the Keith Jarrett game.

'A remarkable try!'

12 and a half years later, I got my first job teaching

and the head of rugby at Cheltenham College was Roger Hosen,

a proud Cornishman and plucked out of retirement

to be Keith Jarrett's opposite number that day.

Now, he was obviously on the receiving end,

but at the end of term,

he showed all the school teams the film of the game.

"Why did you do that?" I asked,

knowing Roger never played for England again.

"Because I wouldn't have missed it for the world," he said.

A teenage hero, a losing veteran.

We sway between the extremes, uplifted by the moment...

'Shane Williams!'

..travelling every long mile...

'Wales have won the Grand Slam!'

..every millimetre.

'Is it long enough? It's not.'

We all bear Six Nations' scars.

They come with playing and working.

To London, to be lacerated, no doubt, by one who cares.

'They've kicked it away again.

'Toby Flood. God's sake!'

You do take some finding.

My dear man. Come in and enjoy some electricity.

Ah, the pit bull.

Our Brian, the scourge of Wales back in the day and here's why.

Now, imagine a young Brian Moore

going to Twickenham for the very first time.

I was stood in front of a group of Welsh blokes, big blokes behind me,

and I had a little flag like all us schoolkids did.

I was waving it. And one of them said to me, "Listen,

"I haven't come bleep here to watch

"you bleep waving a bleep flag in front of me."

And so, like everyone else,

we were a bit intimidated because we were little kids, but you know what?

Before every Wales game, I told that story back to myself and said,

-right...

-This is typical you.

Instead of remembering the occasion fondly, you're scarred by it.

Absolutely, motivational, yes.

-It worked though.

-Yeah.

But having sort of built the Welsh up to be a certain thing,

I remember you taking your cans off and going, "Oh...

"I get it."

That was the first of the three Grand Slams that Wales have

done recently and I remember turning round and seeing...

..three blokes behind us who were roughly our age in tears and

I suddenly... It suddenly came to me what it meant to them.

As not just rugby fans, but as a national thing.

And it wasn't until I'd actually seen that

that I really truly understood that when people talk about

the game being in their nation's soul,

that it actually is for a lot of people.

MUSIC: You Sexy Thing (I Believe in Miracles) by Hot Chocolate

For those of us of a certain age,

the volume of this soul music was set in the 1970s and set loud.

The golden decade of three Grand Slams.

-BILL MCLAREN:

-Thomas again.

Edwards to Barry John.

Out to John Dawes. John Williams.

Gerald Davies. Can Ian Smith get him?

It's Gerald Davies for Wales.

As a schoolgirl in 1976,

we were asked to draw a picture that meant Wales to us.

One friend drew a daffodil,

another one of the girls drew a pithead wheel,

and I drew Mervyn Davies.

So...that kind of sums up

the impact rugby was having in our household.

It was a big part of family life.

The Davieses, Merv the Swerve and this one...

Gerald Davies. What was he doing there?

And you can see, Davies...

Phil Bennett.

Bennet out to David Burcher.

Burcher back inside to Fenwick to Bennett.

Oh! This is going to be the try of the championship.

Oh, to play like Phil Bennett.

I went out to the field behind the house

and there were two donkeys in the field and I was about six,

seven years old at the time and I went out to this rugby ball,

pretending to be Phil Bennett.

And here I was now sort of side-stepping

and trying to kick over this donkey and, you know,

catching the ball and scoring a try on my own there

and that was my first memory of the Six Nations.

There are the donkeys in any team and stars in this team -

Gareth Edwards, JPR Williams, Ray Gravell.

Superstars. Legend has it that there was the team of the '70s,

so self-possessed and confident.

You have characters in this side

and, you know, the laughter and humour.

We had the legend JPR at fullback and Gareth was kicking and doing

everything there and he said,

"Benny, tell him to pass the ball,

"for God's sake! I'm getting cold here and I want to come in."

I'd say to Gareth, "The nutter is saying you've got to pass the ball."

"Tell him to..."

And you've got Grav alongside you, who...

You know, the great thing with JPR wanting to run and tackle

and bust everyone and Edwards not passing the ball

and then Grav saying to me,

"I'm looking good, aren't I? I'm strong, aren't I?"

"Grav, you're the best centre in the world."

He always used to say to me, you know, Eddie, there was a centre

playing for Ireland, Dick Milliken.

Grav said to me, "You like him, don't you?"

I said, "No, like, he's all right."

"You don't like him better than me, do you?"

"No, you're my number one man."

"He's a big bloke, mind." "Not as big as me?"

"No, no, not as big as you, Grav."

By the end of the game, I was thinking, "Oh, I'm glad to get off this pitch!"

This was the age of taking easily to the air.

So when this team flew to Paris, the fans went too.

The airport - the launch pad for the away trip.

The travelling fans such an important factor in the rugby experience.

Their presence can be so positive and yet their adventures can be...

on the wild side.

It was all best encapsulated in a film made 40 years ago.

Grand Slam, fly on the wall documentary it has been said.

But no, it was a fictional drama set around the real 1977 showdown

between France and Wales, the giants then of the Five Nations.

Phil Bennett!

Oh, Phil Bennett, what about him?

Phil Bennett!

Oh, aye?

LAUGHTER

So, anyway,

Phil Bennett was playing

because he was substitute. I was supposed to play...

Oh!

Eddie!

Dewi Pws, actor.

Come on in.

Do you think that, you know, it was a landmark drama?

That it sort of added something

to the whole thing about the Six Nations?

The travelling, the sense of being there?

-I was there, you know.

-It was a bit because,

as you say, it's on the periphery...

It's very important with the supporters.

The supporters make it, I think.

The players know that. I don't know if when you were playing

you were aware how important it is.

No, they do. They do.

Players heading for the Park de Prince.

One of them an Oscar winner for playing a sheikh in Ben Hur.

Now playing Caradog Lloyd-Evans, funeral director.

Hugh Griffith.

We never had a weekend like that because...

Basically because of Hugh.

Oh, he was such a character.

Much larger than life.

He said, "Right, I'm going to take you to this strip club."

We went, got in, I mean they all knew him.

-FRENCH ACCENT:

-International acteur fameux Monsieur Hugh Griffith.

On stage, you know, with the strippers.

"Thank you, thank you."

Within ten minutes, we'd had the kick out.

He'd pinched one of the strippers' bums.

"Out! Out!"

On the street again.

Grand Slam was made 40 years ago.

It was very much of the 1970s, but somehow remains timeless.

You can recognise those characters today.

I mean, I go on tour with the Six Nations every year

and you still see people like Mog, you know, puffing out his chest,

leading the troops into the battle of the nightclubs, you know?

You still see people like, you know, the old man,

someone's always brought their elderly dad or their grandad

along who is desperately trying to keep up with all the young drinkers.

I mean, I've been to Paris quite recently

when I saw 25 boys dressed as sheep

being herded by Little Bo Peep, you know,

who was also male in a very short skirt.

And they almost brought the French presidential motorcade to a halt

that day, you know, in the middle of Paris.

So you still see these sights of people misbehaving

and having an amazing time on tour.

-Yeah?

-Fair play, it's not every day we get weekend like that, eh?

There was no happy ending to the film Grand Slam,

but it captured the spirit of that age -

the humour, the confidence, the swagger.

And there would be a Grand Slam the very next year.

JJ Williams. To Bennett.

It's another try.

And then came the 1980s, a new generation...

And so Eddie Butler comes on.

How young!

..and the swagger sort of went out of the Welsh game

and instead of a whole decade of success,

there were just fleeting moments.

Good reverse pass. Jonathan Davies.

There's that acceleration.

Very, very quick.

Back goes Derek White.

The try is scored.

Wonderful try by Davies.

Good moments, brilliant moments.

...Evans can get there before Jonathan Webb.

He will!

But just moments that didn't lead to any sustained success.

Mind you, moments can stay with you for a very long time.

TRUMPET FANFARE

# I saw the light from the night that I passed by her window... #

1999, the Millennium Stadium was under construction in Cardiff.

Wales's temporary home was Wembley, there to play England.

England going for the Grand Slam and in the lead until...

Scott Quinnell. A burst by Scott Gibbs.

Scott Gibbs is through.

Scott Gibbs has scored.

What an amazing try.

You think how we celebrated that game.

I had a set of three kind of jink by jink photographs of Scott Gibbs

scoring that try, you know?

I had the video.

I've still got the ticket on my pin board

because victories against England felt so precious.

I mean, it seems really daft now. It seems stupid, doesn't it?

That this one single game became so massive,

but when you'd waited so long, and it meant so much, you know.

It wasn't even like a championship-winning game,

we just beat England,

and yet... And yet, I had every souvenir going.

On the winning side that day, Colin Charvis,

one of his 94 caps for Wales.

He'd be captain and would score 22 tries

which still stands as the record for a Welsh forward.

He's still wearing the red shirt, but doing something a bit different,

running his own flooring company in Swansea.

Can I kind of take you back to a rugby career

that had many contrasts?

The good times. Can you remember the Wembley game against England?

Yeah, I think that

when you say the good times...

And we can talk about bad times as well, Eddie, I'm not shy any more.

But, yeah, some of the great times that we had,

that win against England in Wembley in '99,

I think now when I look back on it, I know it was a home fixture,

but it was in London.

And I remember on our way back that there were Welsh flags hung up on

all the bridges along the M4, and you kind of thought,

there's somebody from Aber Cwmtwrch who's gone home

and his mum's gone crazy about, "Where's his flag gone?"

But, you know, for the team driving home that day, you know,

it was kind of like every seven or eight minutes,

you went under a bridge

and just felt that little bit more special with that victory.

OK, we come to the day when he was captain in Rome.

A day not so special,

or special for all the wrong reasons.

Italy celebrate.

They've created history.

For the first time ever,

they've beaten Wales in a senior international...

During the game, the captain was replaced.

It happens. But what must never happen

is to let slip even a half smile.

A newspaper poll placed him second

on their list of most hated men in Wales.

It was a terrible day, you know.

The captain being pulled off the pitch is not a norm.

We were losing to Italy, which would have been the first time, you know,

we'd lost in the tournament to Italy.

Sometimes, the media need a pantomime villain.

You know, to compare me in a poll as one of Wales's most hated men,

putting me between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden,

I kind of think, 'Hold on a minute.'

You know, either put me above them or put me below, but not in between!

That defeat in Rome, that season Wales finished last.

Worth bearing in mind

because it is in Italy that we start this time around.

On the other hand, to play with style in Rome,

the start of something altogether different.

Gareth Thomas cutting loose. Support there from Martyn Williams.

Up to the 22 and it's Morgan himself.

Finds Shane Williams.

What a try for Wales.

2005, the start of a run not seen for 27 years.

Wins in Rome, Paris, Scotland.

Wins at home over England.

Step four is complete.

Wales are just one step from the heaven of a Grand Slam.

I speak to younger people about this,

and they can't quite get it because they've grown up seeing, you know,

Grand Slams, championships,

you know, a World Cup semifinal.

You can't imagine what it meant to people of my age

who had never seen a Grand Slam in our adult lives

to see Wales do that in 2005.

To Dublin, not what Wales did for the final part of the drama in '05,

but very much part of the saga it became -

the home of Irish rugby, where the Ruddock family have made their home.

Are you buying me lunch?

Coach Mike, son and Ireland player Rhys.

-How are you? Good to see you.

-Hello, Rhys.

-How are you? How's things?

-Nice to see you.

-Come on. Well, it's your club.

-My club.

You know, I'd been on the terraces as a kid watching Wales, you know,

the Gareth Edwards sort of era, JPR, the boys...

Ed, you would have been knocking around on the edge of that

at the end of that era as well playing rugby,

but certainly that era.

Winning the Grand Slams and Triple Crown,

so I think it had been 27 years since Wales had won a Grand Slam,

so it really was a fantastic achievement, a fantastic day.

Supporting Wales against Ireland I suppose is funny to look back now,

but I just remember being overwhelmingly proud

and excited for him

and the fact that they got the win on the Grand Slam

made it all the more special for our family.

O'Gara. Down towards that corner. Gethin Jenkins, he's...

He's going to score! He is! Gareth Jenkins has scored for Wales.

Tom Shanklin. Shanklin for the line.

Kevin Morgan. Morgan to put the seal on the win

to put the cream on the Grand Slam cake.

To see the crowd and the Welsh people and what it meant to them.

I think that was the incredible thing,

was the uplifting effect that that had on the nation

in the barren sort of years, if you like.

So many years where we'd underachieved as a nation

and suddenly, we had a little bit of luck and we nailed it and, you know,

just seeing everyone so pleased, it was incredible.

Public scenes of joy.

Behind the scenes, not so harmonious.

A swirling battle of loyalties.

Within a year, Mike Ruddock was gone.

Do you look back on Wales as a career cut short

or was it just a step in a professional career?

I learned a lot, Ed.

I learned a hell of a lot. And some good and some not so good.

You know, it's a fickle old game.

So my attitude looking back has been, you know,

take the trophies when they come along and just keep striving to win.

The Six Nations is a vice.

Not as in sin, but the implement that squeezes tight

and can hurt you.

Ireland's succour that day - Shane Byrne.

First got into the Irish squad in 1993.

Never out of the squad. Got my first cap in 2001.

Twice, twice dropped directly because of my hair.

-Really?

-Yeah, yeah. That was getting off the plane in '94, I was told,

"Well done, great tour, get your hair cut."

I went, er, "No. Why?"

Gone, out of the squad again.

It always strikes me that the Welsh and the Irish

are almost allies in a cause.

-Yeah.

-But there is quite a bitterness and quite an edge

to the game.

I think, with the Irish and the Welsh,

I think more so recent years,

it was just the simple fact that we were playing so often

in the Celtic League, as it was back then,

and there was absolutely no love lost.

It just built up this absolute...

Nobody would take a step back.

We always earmarked the Welsh game as a game that was going to be

absolute bruise and hair and teeth and everything flying,

because nobody would take a step back in it.

And that's exactly what you want.

Have you got a favourite Six Nations game?

Well, listen, you can't... The rivalry between Wales will always

be special and we've had some amazing games against them,

but to me, my favourite Six Nations game was when we

beat England in Twickenham.

It was their first home game after they had won the World Cup.

Everything was teed up for them.

The big, huge welcome home and everything and it was even broached,

would you believe, during the week,

that we should actually clap them onto the pitch.

Can you bloody imagine?

You know, oh, yeah, that would be a great idea(!)

Oh, come on, lads. Jeez, that was...

Thankfully, Brian O'Driscoll shot that down straightaway,

whoever the hell had mentioned it.

But it was genuinely, that's what they were thinking.

That was the standing they put themselves in.

And now, you know? Life after rugby?

I've got a bit of advice.

-Oh, really?

-Get your hair cut.

Well, as you can see, it's a bit windy today, you know.

-You're just jealous.

-Yeah.

It's true, it's true.

If I have a ritual on commentary days,

it is to have a quiet hour before the tumult ahead.

To be ready for anything.

After the Grand Slam of '05, things went a little fuzzy for Wales.

'07 ended unhappily at the World Cup.

We looked again to distant shores and for the Six Nations of '08,

a new coaching team arrived led by Warren Gatland.

Shane Williams passes.

Williams...

It's a foot race.

And Shane Williams is going to win it.

Oh! Brilliant try.

This is the moment that the whole of

Wales has been waiting for.

And after '08, 2012.

Priestland.

Long to Cuthbert.

Cuthbert is clear.

Alex Cuthbert is going to score.

And Wales strike against France.

It's funny, you know, you go grand slam, Grand Slam, Grand Slam.

And yet the favourite for me was '13, final game of.

Yeah. You've got this Grand Slam chasing young English

pink-cheeked side coming down in search of all the glory.

And we just steam-rollered them, didn't we?

It was just immense.

Cuthbert holds off Brown.

Cuthbert for the line.

Since title winning 2013, there has been no outburst of delight.

There has been a pause.

Power has passed to England,

which is where at Harlequins,

one of the pillars of the last nine years now plays.

A player almost the very definition of Wales under Warren Gatland.

-Jamie.

-How are you, sir?

-Just tell everybody

meeting in a pub was our idea, OK?

Jamie Roberts, nearly a decade in the exposure

that comes with doing this.

Life in the glare of Wales.

You can't escape it in some respects.

Certainly, being in and around Cardiff,

maybe in the evenings to go for food, you feel a part of that buzz.

Your friends, family are all talking about it, all texting you, and...

But as a side, as a squad, certainly,

you try to keep yourself in a bit of a bubble

and steer clear of the press.

Try to stay really focused and hope, you know,

work hard towards our goal of winning it and, you know,

we always speak about that as a group

going into the first meeting of campaigns.

But nothing quite stirs the emotion like the Six Nations.

It's probably the most emotionally charged rugby we play.

The highs are spectacular, the lows are dreadful.

Grown men suffer.

This can be a cruel stage.

Deep within the Vale of Glamorgan is this, the temple of hard work,

a bastion of Welsh manhood.

Except that in here is somebody who's certainly not a man,

but who is very important.

The barn, where the poster reads,

"This is where we build our victories."

It's also where the management team works,

where grand strategies are planned.

It's where Caroline Morgan works.

This is who rebuilds players.

-Admin and also mother. There's a combination.

-Isn't it just?

Yes. Two heads.

Do you remember any incidences where you know, you have to scrape a big,

tough boy up off the floor?

Many times, many times when

there's been a loss and, you know, the media, the critics are in.

And we feel the pain exactly the same as the players,

but we have to put our arms around them and build them back up,

build that confidence back for them.

I think the more successful Wales gets, the more demanding it gets

because everybody wants a bit of them and then,

of course, they're waiting to knock them back down.

And then you've got to pick them back up again.

-And if they win?

-Fantastic, no better feeling.

How did you celebrate, say, the Grand Slams?

2005 Grand Slam, I actually ran out and kissed Clive Griffiths,

which was on the television.

It also made the DVDs, so...

Did you go into the changing room afterwards?

I don't go into the changing room.

I feel that's a little bit - not my domain.

If I've got to go in there for work purposes, I will,

but that belongs to the players.

I think you earn the right to be in that changing room.

They come, they go.

For the moment, these are the players who have earned the right to

brave the perils, to put themselves through hell because there are

wonders to be had in what they are about to do.

The Six Nations stirs the emotions like no other tournament.

As a player, there's so much tradition and history,

and to be a part of that is an absolute privilege.

You do go into some games sometimes knowing, this is big.

I don't really get nervous,

but I do get this sort of butterflies and on some occasions,

on the big occasions,

you do feel those butterflies a bit more and I don't think it's any

different to any player.

The thing about the Six Nations is something always happens.

It's never straightforward.

And therefore, there's always interest in it.

And just occasionally, it turns out to be extraordinary.

I always think it must be the most boring thing imaginable to be

an All Blacks fan. You know,

you're on this kind of steady trajectory of triumph all the time.

And yet, we only taste kind of delirium because we've had despair as well,

and it makes it all the sweeter.

So, off we go again.

What will happen? Well, who knows?

The unexpected.

But even by saying that, perhaps there won't be any surprises.

All we can say is that it will grab us,

it will give as a right going over, it will lift us.

It is the essence of what the Six Nations is all about.

Going out onto the Principality Stadium, the roof closed,

a little bit of fireworks,

the anthem going, knowing that there is 74,500 people in there,

the majority of which have all got something red on and that

shoulder-to-shoulder with your team-mates, your countrymen,

is just incredible and it lifts you.

Oh, getting a bit nervous!