Grand Slam Uncovered, Wednesday 19 March, 7.30pm, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One Wales
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The resurgence of Wales' rugby team following their Grand Slam and Triple Crown-winning RBS Six Nations campaign has made headlines around the world.
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And at the heart of that amazing success story are three key men – Wales head coach Warren Gatland, defence coach Shaun Edwards and captain Ryan Jones.
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Jonathan Davies and the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Wales cameras had exclusive access to Gatland, Edwards and Jones during their historic Grand Slam winning Six Nations campaign.
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In a special documentary narrated by Eddie Butler, Grand Slam Uncovered – on Wednesday 19 March, 7.30pm, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One Wales – they reveal how they took Wales from underdogs to top dogs.
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The coaches are brutally honest on their views of the Wales team before they took over the job.
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"If you'd asked me 12 months ago if I would be sitting here coaching Wales, I'd have said you've got to be kidding me," says Gatland.
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"When I first came here I was trying to get Shaun on board," says Gatland. "Shaun was very cagey on putting his name to something. He was a little bit apprehensive and said Wales, you look at what happened to them in the World Cup and the last couple of years in the Six Nations, do you want to get involved with that team?"
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Gatland was not afraid of making controversial decisions from the start of the campaign and talking about the Ospreys-heavy team choices for the England game he says:
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"The easiest thing for me picking that first team would have been going to that game with a few different combinations, a few other players from other regions, people would have said fair enough. But the hardest decision was to pick as many players as we did from the Ospreys."
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A decision which paid off with an historic win at Twickenham, proving the self belief in the team was coming back.
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As Shaun Edwards says: "Fortitude is a magnificent thing as a sportsman, the refusal to give in, to never know when you're beaten is a great strength of any team."
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And captain Ryan Jones is equally proud of his team's recent resurgence in performance levels:
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"Those are memories that no one can take away now, there is still a real belief in us. Welsh rugby was probably at an all time low and there was nowhere for us to go, but we wiped the slate clean and we collectively started again – onwards and upwards."
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Gatland and Edwards also talk candidly about their forthright coaching style.
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"We were laughing last night about writing a book about the non-PC way of coaching, the Shaun Edwards and Gatland way, because it's not all politically correct the stuff that we do," says Gatland.
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"I don't scream obscenities without any thought," says Edwards. "I do it maybe to stress a certain point at certain times and then I would go and talk quietly to them after the training session."
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The head coach also talks about the amount of speculation around the personal battle between him and the Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan.
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"For me it was still about two teams, about 30 players and about two nations playing against each other," says Gatland.
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"You know there was a little bit of a side thing with myself and Eddie O'Sullivan, I thought he was pretty professional in the way that he handled that whole thing. But it got a little bit over the top when every interview everything just came back to that one issue and they were trying to create some extra controversy about it."
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Standing on the Millennium Stadium turf following the euphoric Grand Slam victory Gatland says that he thought Wales could go all the way from game one.
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"I was talking to Shaun before the England game and I said, you know we could win here, get a bit of confidence and with the next two games at home, we could be alright in this championship. He said 'oh you Kiwis are eternal optimists,' he said. But you've got to dream haven't you?"
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Ryan Jones sums up the feelings of his team mates following the final game:
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"These are the days you live for, you know we all grow up as kids dreaming of playing in Grand Slam matches and looking around at the fashion in which we've done it and it makes it even more special.
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"The boys will be talking about this for years to come. They say once in a lifetime, but it's two now isn't it!"
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