Korkey's Six Nations

A fortnight before the England game, the Wales team held a public

training session. I was allowed in.

To get involved a bit. But at 39 years old, with the

hardness of a concert pianist, it was a bit risky.

The best thing to do, I thought was to keep a low professional and

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 79 seconds

under no circumstances human iate Could I impress Warren Gatland? No?

I'm on it. Finally, I got one right.

That's it. Thank you very much. There is a similarity with yourself

and Ryan Jones. And buoyed by still being alive, I

lined up a bit of kicking with Neil Jenkins.

I was hoping to get that signed! Oh, there is another Welsh legend.

Robert Howie, how about a quick workshop? Do you know where your

hands are going? No. No idea. Towards the target! Boom! Nailed

one! Exhausted this is! Now in the last game against Scotland, I had

been a reporter for the Western Mayo. What it did not show was this,

I asked Shaun Edwards a totally innocent question.

It feels like there is a chance you could do a job in England in

Twickenham. Do you ever talk about how much you like to beat sides by?

A difficult question! Which led to all of the coaches walking out!

this was my chance to say sorry to Shaun Edwards, who up close is as

intimidating as you can imagine. I would like to apologise, I was

the person who asked a stupid question at the end of the press

conference. I I'm glad you said that, not me.

Maybe my actions said that. It was the most ridiculous

question! I thought you were an Englishman. I thought this is a

loaded question. I can see it, Edwards saying we can win by 15,

Gatland saying we can win by 12. I can see it in the England dressing

room wall! Lancaster not even having to do a team talk! I'm glad

to know you are Welsh. There is no conspiracy theory. That is

forgivable. So I'm forgiven? Yes.

Thank you very much. I've been losing slip over it, it was

bothering me so much. I was losing sleep you were a spy!

Thank you very much. Good luck with the rest of it.

Next, Leigh Halfpenny, for me, one of the stars of the tournament. He

to ask him about the last kick of the game match when they were

against Ireland. COMMENTATOR: Well, terrible to

start with. How nervous were you feeling?

Pretty nervous to have all of the nations there! But its what a dream

come true. We put France to bed then. Really glad to be taking the

kick. Right, then, now you are going to

embarrass me. I want to sense what it is like to catch the ball from

the sort of kicks that you put up. Right, stay loose, keep your eye on

the ball, you'll be fine! Oh, God! You plum. I tried to do your jumpy

thing! Never mind that, come on. Easy! Easy! Caught it, although no

points for style. Right then, Leigh Halfpenny, let's see what you can

do with my special! Oh! Well, it his job after all. I better relish

this moment. It doesn't get much better than that. Sharing the pitch

with Leigh Halfpenny on the millennium pitch, that is

unbelievable. With my boyhood dream achieved, the team went off to do

proper training. Right, England versus Wales at HQ, was going to be

huge. I really wanted to concentrate on watching the game.

On the other hand, I did need a cheap gimmick to justify BBC Wales

sending me there. Performing Hang Up by Madonna it

is... He's got a Welsh wife, but he had to earn his honourary Welsh

status. So, if he could name me three Welsh players, he got to wear

the daffodil. The guy by the end there,

Warburton? Yes. Gethin Jenkins? Right, you are in!

The first half was tense and tight. It definitely wasn't going to be a

rout. Oh! Wales had only won here twice

in 25 years, to make matters worse, Gerrard's mic was playing up.

As the first half ended, England had played well and definitely had

the bragging whites on us! Warren Gatland was going to have to earn

his money with a halftime team talk. You have the accent, Gerrard, go

for it. He will be saying, "Two times in 25

years, are you happy with that? It's their house, so let's break

down the doors and smash the windows." And what followed was

worthy of a movie. We had had one of the tightest games ever against

Ireland. Surely the script writers could not invent a new twist? The

plot was flowing along nicely. We were well into the second act.

Gerrard was getting into the movie star mode.

Your mic is down there? Well, it is the people that put it there in the

first place! We had a villain, who later on would turn no a hero, and

the tension was building ready for Yeah! Yeah! It was all set for the

Hollywood happy ending. But just when you thought it was

safe to go back to the bar... are holding out. You have to hold

them out. The twist that no-one saw coming.

No! No! No! Video! Denied! No try, please! Time stood still.

Just how long could they string this out? And then it dawned on us,

that this was the moment. Wales' Grand Slam dream could stand or

fall on this one decision. I couldn't decide myself which way

it should go. Robert Howie could not decide whether to sit down...

Or stand up... Or stand up. Every Welsh fan was as tense as I was,

and every honourary one too. Please, please...

COMMENTATOR: A try! Yeah! Yeah! Whoa! With England beaten it was

time to take stock of what we had learned so far. We had learned:

CCTV is intrusive. It is hotter in LA than in Wales. English nations

that play for regions and then play against Wales, get nervous. For

some reason, Scotland had employed the vicar of Dimbley. By the main

thing that we have learned is that Wales are good. Really good. Like

Adam Jones taking down a winger in full flight. This team could be on

the brink of something special. All thoughts turn to a Grand Slam

decider. Only Italy stand in the way so. Where better to watch a

hatful of tries, than a stuffy outside broadcast in a truck car

park? I had stepped into the Welsh rugby fan's star ship enterprise

and heading towards TV overload. Through to look at me, you would

not know. For someone who gets confused by the technology of his

fridge, this was mind boggling. In the truck it was tense.

I cannot make a mistake here. That's Wales about to score a try...

COMMENTATOR: We have important matters to attend to.

I would rather he score than I get chucked out. This is Matt grift

itselfs, the director that calls the shots.

-- Griffiths. Everything flows through him. Live feeds, replays,

everything! In here it is a wierd world of beauty shots, gold shots,

dirty shots. To increase the pressure, all of them packaged up

and going out to the whole world. Matt was playing with a great shot

of choice and technological shots, but for me... I can't work it out.

I think that the screens in the middle and the transmission feed, I

have sussed that out, apart from that, I don't know what's going on!

The game, that I could just about follow, amidst the cocaphony, was a

start-stop affair. Then it was half-time. Though the big news in

the truck was that the camera had gone down for the halt review.

-- half-time review. Then there is a second half, as it

began, the crew of the Enterprise began to speak a strange language...

Up on silver, Rhys. But all I understood was this...

COMMENTATOR: It is to the line! nen the re-play area, all hell

broke loose. It is nebl next! Take it back! Take

it back! -- it is yellow next. Run it on blue.

I remained result-focused. Here we go, Wales by 28.

No doubt about it! And then it was time for Welsh rugby legend

answered commentator, John Davis to choose his Man of the Match.

What a day for Justin Tipuric on his first full start, but then this

happened... And Jiffy was waivering...

COMMENTATOR: He fancies his chances?

COMMENTATOR: My man of the match is Alex Cuthbert.

It is Alex Cuthbert, the Man of the Match and great for the Welsh. Job

done indeed. Tony, have you done the final montage? Not yet, I'm

still doing it. Can we have a Queen track? Yeah,

which one would you like? Can we have Hammer the Fall? Yeah.

Well, if you can't abuse your position when high on a Welsh win,

then when can you do it? At last, we were allowed to be Grand Slam

focused. To get in the mood, I thought back to Wales' last Grand

Slam decider at the Millennium Stadium, it was also against France

in 2008. It turned out to be a really special day. Ian Goff won

his 50th cap. Ray led his daughter out tonne the pitch it was amazing.

A coup -- a couple of WAG s. The own thing that distracted from the

play going on was Martyn Williams was having a blander and Vincent

Clegg did a good impression of Phantom of the Opera.

Gavin Henson was sin-binned and then France chipped their way back

into it. It was basically somed up beautifuly... Yet, all of a sudden

here they are, three points in front and down to 14 players. It is

the start of the second half. I remember thinking to myself, this

is going to abbest torture. For the first ten minute it is was. Frns

went 9-9. Then Gethin Jenkins went off injured and France started to

get control. Then, thank goodness, this happened...

COMMENTATOR: The hard work, the lard yard, like they did at the

lard yard, like they did at the beginning. That is what is required.

Rock on... To Williams it is a race, Shane Williams... He has it. A

brake away tie! It didn't get much better, even though they exchanged

penalties, we were ten points up, we thought that would be OK, but

not in a Grand Slam game, but then, one of the greatest moments I have

ever seen on a rugby pitch happened... You don't expect

anything to happen here. Clear the lines, maybe, kick the touch? No...

Mark Jones, literally running the length of the pitch it would have

been the greatest try of all time in a Grand Slam decider. He

finished a yard short. But as it turned out it was the

best try set-up of all time, it led, after a number of phases to this...

COMMENTATOR: This is going to be won with something a little special.

Maybe it will be Martyn Williams? His match-winning try that sealed

the Game. That was it, we knew we had won. Our second Grand Slam in

had won. Our second Grand Slam in three years.

In 1987 there had been another Grand Slam decider against France.

So it was off to West Wales to speak to one of the true rugby

greats on what felt like to me, to be one of the best drying days in

Wales. Although, apparently down here, this is called a breeze. I

was going to meet Phil Been the. We did not play to our best -- Phil

Bennett. Tell me about the preparation going

into a Grand Slam gairm in your day? They would not believe it

The training on the Sunday before on the beach. A light run out on

the Thursday and then Friday it was hysterical, nobody on diets, they

were all starving, the Angel Hotel is posh. We would sit down with a

lovely meal. Chips, steak. Sweets, puddings. P put it all down and

then we would walk to the cinema in Cardiff. Hundreds of fans. And we

just walked down there, go into the cinema, watch some film it could

have been a shambles of a film and then our physio, he used to be the

team manager, he a certain amount of money to buy us an ice-cream

each. We would ask for the ice- cream, but Bill would say that we

could not have Flakes, as it was too expensive! No, you can't have a

Flake, just have an ice-cream. Did you get sauce? No, no sauce! A

plain ice-cream, you would not believe it. Back to the hotel a

sandwich a cup of tea, to bed. There are lovely moments in that

game. One, you chucked the ball like a Fijian and you talk about

your relationship with you and Gareth Edwards, but there is a

terrific pass, you give him a look as if to say don't go chucking that

at me. Bill picks up in the commentary.

COMMENTATOR: He is saying don't give me another one of those,

please. I was said to be looking well, but

I thought he a bad back, but it was funny in that game as well. They

were a great team to play, the French. A great man there, there

was a bit of a scrap in those days, no yellow cards. There was a bit of

a scrap! COMMENTATOR: That little was nasty.

The referee calls that their captain and puts myself and him

together, he is 6ft 8. I say whatever he says he can have it.

He is looking down at me, he is angry. I am told to tell the lads

to cool down. I'm saying boys, get stuck into this lot! I was going to

ask you what you said to them? told them to give them a pounding,

but Bobby, Charlie, Pricey, they were great men, brave men for Wales.

And remarkably, I scored two tries that afternoon and two from within

about ten metres. First Allen Martin's scrub. I beat a couple of

men and go over. About what was important, France had taken the

lead in that game. If you look back at me, I never took a long time

taking conversions for a penalty, but I thought I have to get this. I

struck it and I went over, we were back in the game.

COMMENTATOR: Gravelle running as always! We go right, out to

Williams and then we have one in the corner, he is forced to the

touchline, I pick it up, I get another try.

Was that always the plan to retire after that game? Or did you go, "I

think that went so well, I will call it a day "I don't that people

realise the pressures. Iwaned to go to the top, but I can honestly say

it was the hardest decision of my life. Did I not want to be Phil

Bennett... I wanted us to win the Grand Slam for Wales and for the

Crown. We got into the dressing room, I said Gareth, thank you very

much, it's been a pleasure. He said, "What is happening" I said I was

finishing. He said, "Bloody hell, so am I." In a way it was a

fantastic feeling. Yet, you were saddened to think that you would

never be on that park again. Now, I can't let you go, obviously,

without talking through this with you. You know what is coming. It is

the greatest try of all time. Talk us through the memories? I remember

Brian Williams, a great kicker down the side of 22. Saying he will give

it to me, I will put this in, but it was suicide.

I passed it to JPR, there was a break.

People say he was forward, but he was never forward, but what a dive.

What got me about that, the crowd went per serbg. That set the game

up. Look at the crowd. -- berserk.

Look at the crowd. And you had a nice thing about that,

the side step, a friend said to ask Phil if he side stepped as he can't

kick from the left foot!? When he cease me doing this, he says qoing

what the hell is he doing" -- he says, "What the hell is he doing"

he has never forgiven me for that with the try. He said, "Philip,

remember that game in' 73, I don't want that nonsense." It was

incredible. Absolutely incredible. I wanted to show this, this is

normally about there that the footage stops. Nobody ever watches

the bit where we run it on. There is an unbelievable moment with

Gareth Edwards strolling back, then it is you to take the conversion...

Remember this moment? I think it was a shocker if I remember? I

think I kicked it under the porch! Good memory! Well, that is from

inside the 22. I was knackered. So no chance of me kicking that.

You had sidestepped twice off that? That was overworked. There was no

chance of me kicking that. Never ever.

So, ahead of Saturday's game, whey wanted to know was what Phil

Bennett thought of the current Welsh team, compared to the great

Welsh teams of the 70s? Someone like Ryan Jones anded a jam Jones

could win their third Grand Slam. Do you think that they should be

talked about in the same breath as all of you guys? Yes, great players.

Brian Jones has been a revelation. He's been fantastic. His work ethic.

If he is plain playing on the start, wing forward, it doesn't matter, he

is playing for Wales. Gethin Jenkins, these guys, they deserve.

They win three Grand Slams they have achieved something special.

They will go down, like the guys that won the Grand Slam then, they

deserve to be held up special. These guys are winning thing force

Wales, for the people, and I tell you what, when you go all over the

world, you can be proud to say, "Hey, we won the Grand Slam." I

hope that the boys get the full credit that they deserve.

So, this is it... Who knows what Saturday will bring? I was never

good enough to wear the Welsh shirt, but these boys are. All Wales will

wish them well. We can only dream of what you alone

can do. The golden team, the first 15, the