Wales’ Grand Slam bid lights up finale

Wales is set to come to a standstill today as the rugby-mad nation waits to see if their team can win the coveted Six Nations Grand Slam by beating France in Cardiff.

A capacity crowd of more than 74,500 is expected at the Millennium Stadium as Wales bid for what would be a third Slam in eight seasons.

That is a record to compare with the celebrated Wales team of the 1970s, who completed three clean sweeps of their rivals in what was then the Five Nations.

And the fact they are going up against France adds an extra element of drama.

When the teams last met, France beat Wales 9-8 in a nailbiting World Cup semi-final in Auckland, a match where the Welsh had to play most of the game with 14 men after skipper Sam Warburton was sent off early on for a dangerous tackle on French wing Vincent Clerc.

Warburton, who didn’t feature in last week’s win over Italy, has now been passed fit following a knee injury and the 23-year-old flanker is relishing his shot at making rugby history.

“I can’t wait for the game on the weekend, it’s going to be the biggest game of my career,” Warburton said.

“People will be saying it’s a revenge match but we have too many things to worry about other than a red card. The motivation for us will purely be to win the Grand Slam.”

This has been a frustrating tournament for France, who in their 17-17 draw with Ireland and Sunday’s 24-22 defeat by England in Paris only started to play their native, aggressive running game when well behind.

New coach Philippe Saint-Andre may be a less volatile character than Marc Lievremont but he’s inherited his predecessor’s habit of making mass changes between Six Nations matches.

For today’s match, the former wing has made five changes and one positional switch as France go in search of what would be their fifth successive win over Wales.

England, in what could be interim coach Stuart Lancaster’s last match in charge, face Ireland at Twickenham still with a mathematical chance of deposing Wales, the only team to have beaten them this tournament, as champions.

Wales’s points difference advantage of plus 38 leaves them in pole position and means England must hope for a thumping French win over the Welsh and an equally convincing victory of their own over Ireland.

After the embarrassment of the World Cup, England have regained a large measure of self-respect and many pundits now believe that in Lancaster, still uncertain of his post Six Nations fate, they have the right man to replace Martin Johnson on a permanent basis.

“I’ve tended to focus all my energy this week on getting ready for the game really, so I’ve not put not much thought into the next steps or what the future may hold,” the modest Lancaster said.

Today’s final fixtures: 1.30 p.m. Italy vs Scotland; 3.45 p.m. Wales vs France; 6 p.m. England vs Ireland.

Standings: Wales (4-0-0) 8; England (3-0-1) 6; Ireland (2-1-1) 5; France (2-1-1) 5; Scotland (0-0-4) 0; Italy (0-0-4) 0.