On the ball: Jonathan Thomas.

Jonathan Thomas was one of only seven Welsh players who were selected for all five Six Nations rugby matches as Wales won the Grand Slam for the second time in three seasons after beating France 29-12 in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

On the Tuesday afterwards he met up with Pembrokeshire Sports Monthly writer Bill Carne to share his thoughts on the wonderful Welsh success and, as modest as ever, he was quick to sing the praises of the new coaching trio, another local player Mike Phillips, Shane Williams, Ryan Jones and the rest of the players.

Below is Jonathan's thoughts about an epic few weeks where he suffered an early injury at Twickenham, but fought back to become an important cog in the well-oiled winning Welsh machine.

England 19 Wales 26 The training for the Welsh team in the eight weeks before the Six Nations was the toughest that I have ever done as we adopted the mindset that the harder we worked the better the rewards would be.

The last two weeks were fantastic under our new coaches and we stayed in Richmond from the Thursday, anticipating the challenge of playing England at Twickenham.

I was thrilled to be in the staring line-up as blind-side flanker but I lasted just 12 minutes before I drove forward and caught a tackle from Johnny Wilkinson which knocked me cold as I also caught my head on Toby Flood's knee.

I'm told I walked off the pitch, but I can only remember being in the changing room after another ten minutes with a headache.

I watched the second half and I can remember Sean Edwards singing Saturday Night at the Movies in the changing room to start our celebrations afterwards.

Family Affair: Jonathan is proudly pictured with sister Nicki, nephews Travis and Corey and mum Elizabeth.

I attended the evening dinner but I was really worried about losing my place to Alix Popham, who replaced me for most of the match.

Luckily, a brain scan revealed there was no concussion, backed up by a series of cognitive tests which meant I was regarded as fit to play again, and so I had to work even harder in training to prove that I was worth my place.

Wales 30 Scotland 15 It was a thrill to learn I had been picked to start at the Millennium Stadium against Scotland and it was a very physical game after only seven days since we had beaten England.

It was a match where we didn't play so well as a team, but at least we did enough to beat them in a scrappy match, limiting them to five penalties from Chris Patterson as we defended superbly and pleased defence coach Shaun Edwards with our tackling and covering right to the final whistle.

It was a real roll up our sleeves job and I didn't really get much chance to carry the ball far - but I was satisfied with my lineout work and tackling and enjoyed watching Shane Williams score two tries and James Hook also score a cracking try.

There is nothing better, other than scoring yourself, perhaps, than to get up from the bottom of a ruck and seeing Shane dancing his way over the try line. Lee Byrne was also brilliant at full back and I felt Ryan Jones, Martyn Williams and I played quite well as a back row unit.

Wales 47 Italy 8 This was the match where we started to show what we could do as a unit with the ball in our hands. After two wins the press were starting to build up the pressure and Warren Gatland showed his belief in using a full squad as he completely changed the front row against the much-vaunted Italian pack which was supposed to be its launch-pad for attack.

We had a cracking final training session on the Friday and during the match I actually enjoyed a lot more ball-carrying in attack and thoroughly enjoyed what was a splendid win, especially in the second half as we scored 34 unanswered points.

Lee Byrne and Shane Williams scored two tries each and Tom Shanklin also crossed as we really took them apart late on - and Shaun Edwards was also purring about our defensive work as well as our running game. It was now played three, won three, but with two very tough matches to finish!

Ireland 12 Wales 16 Now this was a very tough contest, as we fully expected against an Irish team playing at Croke Park and loving it.

We stayed at a little place called Portmarnock, well known for its golf course, just 20 minutes out of Dublin, instead of staying in the city centre. It was a good move because we had a little peace to train and relax afterwards, which took some of the pressure off us.

Much is made of Croke Park and the playing surface was good, but to be honest I found Lansdowne Road more intimidating because there the crowd seemed on top of you while in Croke Park it is so huge that they are well away from the action.

I had played twice at Lansdowne Road and we had played poorly in defeat so this was a pleasing result where the pack went well, working extra hard when Mike (Phillips) and Martyn (Williams) were sin-binned.

Shaun Edwards was delighted by the pack's efforts and again it was Shane who helped us achieve our fourth win on the trot - just one to go now!

Wales 29 France 12 We hadn't celebrated winning the Triple Crown in Portmarnock because we wanted to focus straight away on the final match against France in Cardiff.

We knew this would be very physically demanding and we were all feeling a little tired, but the press were already building up the hype about a second Grand Slam in three years.

We tried to focus mentally all week, keeping well away from the party atmosphere across Wales and telling ourselves that if we used our skills to the full and gave total commitment we could do it.

But when we drove through the streets of Cardiff and saw the teeming crowds of red shirts it quickened the heart-beat because you suddenly become aware of the expectations, especially in St Mary's Street where the bus has a police horse or two in front of it as the crowds cheer and wave. It is one of the highlights for me of playing for Wales.

France knew they had to beat us by 20 points to secure the championship and when we were 9-all just after half time in a titanic struggle we knew they were still looking for chances to break us.

But we grafted hard and then Shane created his own brand of magic again to become the Welsh try scoring record holder, Martin Williams finished things off in style and we had achieved the Grand Slam to set up some amazing celebrations.

The crowds were brilliant in supporting us throughout the championship and as we lined up to receive our medals it was an amazing feeling to be involved.

We couldn't celebrate before, but we certainly had a wonderful Saturday evening as we attended the official dinner at the Hilton Hotel - and Sunday too. I will never forget this year with Wales as long as I live!

3:19pm Tuesday 8th April 2008

Can you feel the force? Jon forces his way over the gain line against the Italians.

Grand Slam winners: The Welsh team celebrate.

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