Oh how I chuckled when a friend pointed out the irony of England, the masters in one dimensional rugby, being pioneers of three-dimensional broadcasting.
But, as I thought ahead to Twickenham next month my smile began to wane.
The press may have been quick to stress the dire implications of defeat for Martin Johnson, but for Wales this match is equally pivotal with huge implications for the future.
It is simple really, this time next month Warren Gatland and his squad will be either:
a)Set fair steering a steady course through the tournament and beyond bound for the World Cup 2011.
or:
b) A Piñata for the media and public, metaphorically flogged as his squad descend fully into what seems to be a cyclical period of depression that has followed every episode of success in Welsh rugby during the last decade going back to the Great Redeemer himself.
I guess the definition of success here is arbitrary, Graham Henry may not have delivered “silverware” but he restored belief, confidence and pride to a nation that had become the whipping boys of world rugby.
His 10-match winning streak included a first win over South Africa and an honourable quarter-final exit as hosts of the 1999 World Cup, and yet within a couple of years things had turned sour, in such circumstances bitter tastes are all that linger, up and then down.
In the wake of Henry’s return to the antipodes, his support stepped up and under Steve Hansen Wales plumbed new depths by collecting a wooden spoon and their first whitewash of the Six Nations era.
And yet it is said that, during this period, Hansen and his lieutenants imbued a Dunkirk spirit within the squad that was alleged to have haunted the subsequent reign of Mike Ruddock.
Ruddock's success was tangible as he delivered a Grand Slam. He also led Wales to victory over Australia and genuinely scared the All Blacks, yet he too was to head down the road in the wake of a series of events so shrouded in myth, rumour and misdirection that only those involved will ever know what went wrong. Up and then down
The truth is, it doesn’t matter, it is now an irrelevance, what is important is the pattern that is emerging, when Wales succeeds it is adept at finding ways fail, and these failures seem to have nothing to do with natural fluctuations that come with the passage of time and personnel, as experienced by England post-2003.
Ruddock was followed by Gareth Jenkins' ill-fated tenure that featured many players of the 2005 vintage.
It was easy to blame the coach especially as a nation that fell to Fiji under Jenkins, next time out beat the World Cup finalists in their own backyard under Gatland in the Slam of 2008.
You might well wonder where I am going with this especially as last year’s Six Nations was far from disastrous.
Yet it was of little consolation that Stephen Jones' penalty miss
was the difference between winning the title and finishing fourth.
But the performances of the performances of the autumn (sans key players I admit), most notably the feeding from Australia suggests Wales are no longer heading in an upward direction nor are they are holding ground and the form of the Welsh regions has done little to offer encouragement.
So is there something inherently self-destructive within the Welsh psyche?
Does success breed complacency? Who knows? What is often said is that Wales are a “confidence” team.
When they are hot they are hot, when they are not they are not.
I suppose there may be some substance to that, but surely that applies to all teams? What is puzzling thing is why when they are hot do they so quickly cool down?
Could the opposite be the problem, do Wales become too confident, too cocky? Again, who knows?
What is certain is that if a Lions-replete Wales lose to a desperate England, built from ghosts of the past and phantoms of potential, then it may well be open season on Gatland and his men.
I doubt that anything keeps Warren Gatland awake at nights, and my faith in him is still strong, but if Wales were capable of beating England two years ago, then as sure a God invented rugby (which He surely did) England can beat Wales next month, and possibly start the beginning of the end of another Welsh dynasty. Up and then...?
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