The ex-World Cup winning coach confessed to being ‘shocked’ by the defeat which may help explain why he referred in a newspaper column to the match having been played “seven days too late”. It should, he argued, “have been played last week”.

England, he went on, should have been hosting Italy last weekend instead of a week next Saturday and Scotland next week, instead of a fortnight later on March 16.

Players have little enough time as it is to recover from exposure to the ritual bashing of the Test arena.

A week off after the two opening rounds and another week’s respite before the last two rounds gives everyone time to catch their breath and plan for the finale.

It enhances the appeal of the tournament rather than detracting from it.

After a few too many sub-standard games, Wales-England gave the Six Nations what it sorely needed which was a match of unrelenting ferocity with the result in the balance until the final five minutes.

Does Gatland sniff the red rose?

On stage at the UK Rugby Writers’ bash in London last month, Warren Gatland gave a mischievous answer to the question of him taking the England job post-World Cup: “I don’t think they could afford me…”

The degree of jocularity behind the remark has to be gauged against the increasing prospect of the New Zealander’s free transfer from Cardiff to Twickenham later in the year and the undisputed fact that he knows the price of the Grand Slam business better than anybody.

It ranges from the sack in Ireland to a pot of gold in Wales and Gatland has experienced both. Within weeks of Keith Wood & co putting a torpedo through an English Slam in 2001, the IRFU showed their gratitude by sacking their head coach with immediate effect.

That Ireland would have been celebrating a Slam of their own that year had they not subsided at Murrayfield in Gatland’s penultimate match in charge clearly had something to do with it. After three years cleaning up in England and Europe with Wasps followed by two back home amongst his fellow ‘Mooloo’ men on the dairy farms of Waikato, Wales made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

In the 11 years since, Gatland has taken them to two Grand Slams and stands today three-fifths of the way towards a third. More significantly, in presiding over England’s elimination from the big prize, he has enhanced his prospects of succeeding Eddie Jones unless, of course, the irrepressible Aussie leaves Japan with the World Cup in his hands.

For a rugby coach to switch allegiance from Wales to England sounds as implausible as a manager leaving Celtic for Rangers or vice versa. It’s simply not the done thing until someone goes and does it.

Whether Gatland ends up in the Six Nations next year sprouting a red rose on his blazer hinges on the next eight months, but there’s more to it than the kingmakers at Twickenham acknowledging he would be considered, along with every other contender.

What the Welsh underdogs achieved in derailing the English bandwagon gives the proposition real substance. Of all the pre-match scenarios spouted by the pundits, nobody thought of the one that, staggeringly, came to pass; that Wales would ultimately overpower the supposed super-power from across the border.

Despite the thunder rolling around the triple-tiered shrine on the banks of the Taff, the visiting high command will have got the message, ringing out loud and clear. Just in case they didn’t, Gatland spelt it out.

“I look back on England in the last few years,” he said. “And when it’s really mattered, I have questioned whether they can win these big games. We said before we left the hotel that we would win because we have forgotten how to lose.”

Scotland hardly appear to be in the best shape to do much in Edinburgh on Saturday week about ending an unprecedented run of 13 straight Welsh wins, Ireland less so in Cardiff on the final weekend.

After watching the world’s No.2 come from behind in Rome in a manner that made a mockery of their global ranking, Gatland will have slept soundly last night.

Young blood Ntamack quick off the mark

Few teenagers score tries in Test rugby, fewer still from the out-half position. A new colossus announced himself by overrunning Ireland twice on his first rampage for the All Blacks during the 1995 World Cup at the age of 19.

Jonah Lomu, of course, operated his one-man demolition business from the wing. In Paris on Saturday, Roman Ntamack made a try-scoring start upon his arrival as the newest French No 10, a few months ahead of his 20th birthday.Manygreats, from Jack Kyle to Barry John, never opened their account that quickly but Ntamack is almost a veteran compared to the youngest fly half scorer in the history of the championship.

Frank Hewitt was a 17-year-old Belfast schoolboy when his try helped give Ireland a win over Wales in Cardiff in 1924. At Twickenham three years later, 18-year-old Henri Laird, still England’s youngest fly half, scored a try in a home win and nobody since then has ever got that close to superseding Hewitt.