Wales No 8 Toby Faletau says Six Nations victory this year would top 2013
Sunday 8 March 2015 15:24, UK
Wales No 8 Toby Faletau insists clinching this year's Six Nations title would top their famous 2013 success.
Warren Gatland's side suffered an opening home defeat to England in this year's competition but have recovered with victories in Scotland and France and can end Ireland's Grand Slam hopes when the sides meet at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
Looking ahead to what promises to be a thrilling climax to the championship, Faletau said: "2013 was great and the win against England at the end was probably the most satisfying I've had.
"To lose the first game in 2013 [to Ireland] and to have people on your backs and knocking you down then to come back from that as a team was great.
"When the final whistle went against England it was amazing, but if we could replicate that it would probably be even better. Just doing it again I think would make it better.
"The boys put a good shift in and we got the result we wanted in Paris. It was a good day at the office for the pack and the platform we had at the scrum, especially for me, was noticeable.
"It's what we want going forward and the longer we spend together the more we seem to get better. Hopefully we can build on last weekend and keep our tournament alive."
On the prospect of facing fellow British & Irish Lion Jamie Heaslip, who is hoping to recover from three cracked vertebrae in time for the trip, Faletau said of his Irish counterpart: "He's a great guy and a great player who's made a name for himself for many years now.
"He's an important player for Ireland and one of their leaders, so if we stop his game maybe it will slow the rest down.
He's an important player for Ireland and one of their leaders, so if we stop his game maybe it will slow the rest down.
"But there's another 14 players you've got to stop as well and Ireland are definitely favourites. They had a really good autumn series beating Australia and South Africa and they're on fire at the moment.
"They having lost for 10 games but we've just got to do our job, do all the work on the training field and hopefully that will translate onto the pitch."
