Round 3 of the 2021 Guinness Six Nations is not an occasion Wales fans will be forgetting in a hurry.
Wayne Pivac’s heroes captured the hearts of a nation as a brilliant performance in Cardiff downed England, secured the Triple Crown and kept their hopes of a second Grand Slam title in three years alive.
Wales sparkled under the Principality Stadium lights as tries from Josh Adams, Liam Williams, Kieran Hardy and Cory Hill – bolstered by Callum Sheedy’s three late penalties – hauled them to a memorable 40-24 victory.
The iconic Cardiff venue may have been empty but in true Guinness Six Nations style, social media revelled in a Round 3 Saturday that will forever go down in Welsh Rugby folklore.
What a day for George North.
Not only did the Wales star, 28, become the youngest player to reach 100 caps for his country – he also picked up a Triple Crown title in the process.
There’s no doubt where bragging rights will lie on the Harlequins training ground next week, with Scott Baldwin and Mike Brown involved in this humorous exchange!
Carol Vorderman usually deals in consonants, vowels and conundrums – but happily swapped Countdown for the Triple Crown on a day to remember in Cardiff.
Pivac’s son Bradley lives in New Zealand – and says his phone wouldn’t stop buzzing when he woke up on Sunday!
They’ve got over 150 Test caps between them – and here were Mike Phillips’ and Brian Moore’s takes on a breathtaking day of action.
Natalie Pinkham was put through the wringer by her Welsh husband – and the television presenter hinted she’d take two months of quarantine over Guinness Six Nations defeat in a heartbeat!
And familiar faces in politics also got involved in the action, as Boris Johnson and Mark Drakeford offered their rugby-related input.
One for the native Welsh speakers here, as the official Wales Twitter account was unequivocal about the outcome in its post-match result tweet.
Reaction from a jubilant Wales skipper came shortly after, with the totemic Alun Wyn Jones insisting the hard work is just beginning for Pivac’s resurgent outfit.
Eddie Jones’ England were far from their best in the Welsh capital – but posted a gracious result tweet after losing their second game in three matches.
Wales legend Jonathan Davies knows this fixture like the back of his hand.
Davies, who helped engineer his country’s Triple Crown triumph back in 1988, interviewed Nigel Owens as part of LGBT+ History Month and took to Twitter to acknowledge both the glowing feedback from his BBC feature – and the result.
One of the tweets of the day surely goes to Welsh actor Kyle Rees, who did his best to replicate the Principality Stadium setup at his own house!
We all miss going to the rugby – but surely Rees got a closer taste than anyone of what it’s actually like to set foot in a stadium after a whole year away.
Elsewhere on Round 3 Saturday, Ireland bounced back from their opening two defeats with a convincing 48-10 victory over Italy.
Andy Farrell’s men ran in six tries in Rome as Garry Ringrose, Hugo Keenan, CJ Stander, Keith Earls and Will Connors – twice – all went over for the visitors.
And it was back row Connors’ performance that chiefly caught the eye on social media, attracting a raft of posts hailing his influence on an improving Ireland side.
One Twitter user even took the opportunity to remind James Lowe – Connors’ teammate at Leinster – of the occasion when he, rather embarrassingly, forgot the 24-year-old’s name!
Connors is affectionately known as ‘porridge’ in Dublin – and winger Lowe admitted he needed to brush up on his teammates’ names after joining Leo Cullen’s side from New Zealand.
And finally, the official Irish Rugby account rolled a classic – albeit firmly applicable – Michael Caine-related pun after Farrell’s men got back on track with an efficiently-executed Italian job.
