Remember Wales partying like it was 1999, in . . . er, 1999? Harri Morgan does. But things were different in those days, he argues. The man who has turned annual hope into genuine expectation is in his final Six Nations and Wales are going to miss him.
The 1999 Five Nations tournament lives in the memory for a multitude of reasons.
It was the final tournament before the door was opened to Italy, and the last time Scotland reigned victorious.
In Wales, it is primarily remembered for a particular sequence of events, which off the top of my head went something like this: Garin Jenkins chucking in to Chris Wyatt, off the top ball to Rob Howley, a flat pass to Scott Quinnell who juggled the Gilbert and the emotions of two nations before popping to Scott Gibbs, a steam train burst through the first line of defence, before stepping off his left to beat Tim Rodber (of all people), all finished off with a dive that would have registered a higher score on the Richter scale than it might have in an Olympic pool.
Such was the moment, such was the opposition, the victory at Wembley eclipsed the heroics of a Parisian performance a few weeks earlier, which had given Wales their first victory in the French capital since 1975.
Twenty years on, and that spring afternoon in Paris is receiving plenty of air-time as social media builds up to the opening encounter of the 2019 edition of the Guinness Six Nations, on Friday night.
The elation for Welsh fans that afternoon was driven by shock, and not just at seeing Craig Quinnell arriving from out of shot to collect a perfectly looped pass from his captain.
It was shock derived from a justifiable lack of expectation and habitual defeat. The reverse fixture the previous year had seen France chalk up 51 points on their side of the ledger to a ring donut in the home column.
This year and things are now very different. Wales will head to the Stade de France an expectant bunch, players and fans alike.
It’s a belief underpinned by achievement. If they win on Friday, then Wales will have won seven of their last eight matches against France. What used to be rare – Welsh victories in Paris- are now commonplace.
Warren Gatland, who prefers trying to switch hit a nicely spun question from the press core for six, rather than a defensive straight bat, has made it clear that he thinks his team are capable of flying the silver back to the nest, if, and it’s a notable caveat, they get off to a winning start in Paris.
The lack of expectation that underpinned the ‘as long as we beat the English’ mentality, which existed back in 1999, is anathema to the Kiwi coach, who has overseen two Grand Slams in nine Six Nations’ campaigns.
In a previous piece, I discussed how player performance lifts under Warren’s watch. In my opinion the psychological dialogue between player and coach is the primary justification for this.
In fact, it is reasonable to conclude that the ex-Waikato hooker’s foremost intangible legacy will be a change in mentality, whereby there is now an internal and external demand on the national side to come to the party, Test match after Test match, rather than being satisfied with a once in a blue moon blow-out.
Those who are not comfortable with heralding the work of Gatland will find legs in the argument that the paradigm shift in the psychology of Welsh rugby is the result of a generation of talented rugby players, and that belief is a natural offspring of quality.
Wales had, of course, won a Grand Slam under Mike Ruddock three years prior to the appointment of the current coaching ticket.
But as a fully paid up member of the IGWT (In Gatland We Trust) club, I find his methods intriguing.
Take, for example, his selection of Stuart Hogg as the one player he would transfer into his Welsh squad, during an interview with the BBC.
None of Gatland’s counterparts, even the normally talkative Eddie Jones, was willing to provide a straight answer to the same question. Presumably, that was reasons of not wanting to show weakness or offend a current squad member.
Perhaps, Gatland’s answer was born out of Zero F’s given honesty, but perhaps, just perhaps, he was lobbing down the gauntlet to Liam Williams, who will get a long-awaited and much lobbied-for shot at 15, in Leigh Halfpenny’s absence.
There is a rare unity in the opinion of those in rugby circles that this promises to be the most competitive Championship to date.
Warren Gatland, a master of his craft, will relish this and expect his players to be of the same mindset.