But I've got enough to think about just at the moment, thanks. A similarly accomplished contribution from Howley on Saturday will add a fistful of noughts to his value, too, especially as a number of leading English clubs are already on his trail.Howley has no urgent desire to leave Cardiff, however."I've got another two years to run at the Arms Park, I'm with the Welsh Rugby Union up to and including the World Cup and as I'm the sort of person who is happy to honour any contract with my thumb print on it, I'm giving all the speculation a wide berth," he said."If Cardiff either wanted or needed to sell me, I suppose I'd take an interest in what might happen. Their forward performance will be the key this weekend."Class half-backs are rarer than radium at the moment, hence the clamour and chequebook-wielding kerfuffle over Thomas Castaignede's match-winning performance for France against England in the first round of Five Nations matches 11 days ago. These are big-occasion players who have shown the ability to dominate at the very highest level They're awesome, to be honest Stop them and you stop England.
Indeed, it's vital that we establish ourselves among the elite and do it quickly, because we're hosting a World Cup in 18 months' time. The hosts need to be contenders, not also-rans."How do we go about it? We start by beating Scotland and Ireland every time we play them, home and away. And we also start by moving that big English pack around the field, imposing our style of play on them for a change and presenting our backs with the sort of quality ball that allows them to give it a lash."We all know the English have had their problems up front, but I'm still of the opinion that whatever danger they bring to a match is to be found in their pack."Only eight months ago I was on a Lions tour with the Martin Johnsons, the Lawrence Dallaglios, the Richard Hills. I'm not saying we would have won had the bounce of the ball gone our way occasionally - of course they were the more complete side - but 37-21 to them wouldn't have been an unfair reflection."Wales can be a top-six rugby nation I've no doubt about that. People say we're a developing team, but the way I look at things, it's about time we stopped developing and started to deliver. You can't keep excusing your defeats for ever and a day."For all that, Howley has found a degree of solace in two recent reverses.
The Welsh performance in Paris last season was, in his view, the best at the Parc des Princes since Graham Price's annus mirabilis in 1975. Likewise, the 40-point lesson meted out by Justin Marshall's All Blacks in November was not, he claims, quite the shafting it appeared."I'm the first to accept that the result against New Zealand was disappointing in the extreme, but when you look at the game in its entirety, it's clear that we were more closely matched than the final scoreline made out. We simply have to be critical of ourselves, to look honestly at our contributions in every phase of every match. We're working towards playing decision-makers in every position and the more of them I have around me, the easier the job becomes."We're very big on self- analysis in this team and that's the way I like it.
