Style and beauty count for only so much in top‑level sport, as Welsh and Scottish supporters were eventually reminded on Saturday. There are no marks for artistic merit, no specific rewards (beyond a try bonus point) for throwing the ball around in the name of entertainment. Occasionally, though, there are days when the losers’ enterprise and energy leaves the deepest impression.
None more so, at long last, than Wales. After barely four training sessions under their interim head coach, Matt Sherratt, they looked a team who have not so much had an extreme makeover as assumed a whole fresh identity. Last time out they were gloomily trudging through Italian treacle; suddenly they were running and passing with elan and briefly threatening to cause the mother of all tournament upsets.
