“I won’t go back on the words I used before when I was asked about breaking Ieuan’s record in that personal achievement in a team sport isn’t the main goal. Even though it is nice to have broken the record, I am just as proud of the way in which this young team performed,” said Thomas. “Stephen Jones put me in a bit of space and it was a case of putting my head down and go for the line.
I can’t tell you how relieved I felt to have scored that try and it was great to be able to do the Ayatollah in front of my home fans after scoring. I got a bit of stick from my friends for not doing it after my try at Twickenham, but I didn’t think they had a big screen there.”
The dressing room after the game was a lot different to the one in Rome a year earlier when Wales lost to the Italians for the first time. Thomas remembered the low of that occasion.
“The Wales dressing room was a very sombre place when we lost in Italy last year. Even though we lost then, I have backed the players throughout and knew we would improve,” he said. “The young players in this squad give me a hunger to carry on and be a part of the Wales team. Steve Hansen is moving on, but we’ve just got to get on with developing even more under Mike Ruddock.
“A lot of us know him well through working under him with Wales A, and because he’s been in charge of teams in Wales we know what to expect from him. It’s going to be a difficult time for us all when he takes over, but we’ve just got to give him a chance to do the job.”
