WALES coach Mike Ruddock, who is steadily growing in stature, will this week ban talk of Grand Slams, titles and Triple Crowns.

Excitement throughout Wales will reach fever pitch after Saturday's victory over France in Paris follows wins against England and Italy, and this puts Wales in with a real chance of honours.

They haven't won the title since 1994, the Triple Crown since 1988 and the Grand Slam since 1978, but now, after three victories in a row, only lowly Scotland a week on Sunday at Murrayfield and Ireland in Cardiff the following Saturday await Wales.

But Ruddock will, understandably, have none of it, and he also plays down his role in Wales' revival.

"We can't talk about the Grand Slam, we've got Scotland first and they'll throw everything at us, they'll put the pressure on us," he said.

"They'll bombard us with everything they've got. We'll need a lot of skill and mental strength now, but our defence is magnificent, in fact the last 10 minutes against France underlined the character of the side and their will to win.

"The spirit has been building. I'm not taking the credit for it, we put in some great performances in the World Cup, especially against New Zealand and England, but didn't quite get the result.

"Then even with 14 men away on the summer tour we had a Test win in Argentina when we fronted up well, and now we know we can play. Those experiences have done the players a lot of good."

Asked what he said to the players when they trailed 15-6 at the interval against France after a first half when they could have been put out of the game, Ruddock replied: "We talked about the three Ts - turnovers, which were killing us, tackles, which were missed, and touch kicks, which were also missed.

"France were counter-attacking and coming back at us as well. We said, 'we can play better than this,' then Michael Owen as captain in the second half spoke to the players. There was a realisation we had to double our effort and have the belief we could still get a result and confidence coming from gaining a couple of wins previously.

"In modern rugby what seems like a big gap can be a lot nearer than you think it is. France had a great first half and we'd contributed to that with errors and giving the ball away.

"I knew we were still capable and mentally still strong enough to go out and play. Michael led from the front and mentally we looked strong and could have won by more.

"It's a fortunate time to be Wales coach, I'm benefiting from the players we have at the moment."

Ruddock praised his team for their efforts. "Gethin Jenkins is developing into an outstanding tight head," he said, referring to his late switches there from loose head, "and I'm sure Clive Woodward (Lions coach in New Zealand next summer) could see his brilliant work on both sides.

"Robin McBryde showed his experience to be able to help a young guy like John Yapp. I was concerned but confident we'd done enough work, especially in the scrum, and you saw the benefits.

"Stephen Jones was awesome, all the players were, his goal kicking kept us in the game when we were having a difficult time and his dropped goal was sublime.

"He oozed class, he dropped it over and started running back as soon as he kicked it, he didn't have to look.

"Martyn Williams was brilliant, he's done superbly. Colin Charvis was talked about in the autumn internationals and was rightly acclaimed, but look at how Martyn has responded, he was immense again."

Owen talked about the pressures the team were under, particularly the late scrums near their own line.

"We were digging in one more time and we just got the turnover, which shows the character of the team," he said.

"We were obviously delighted to win, but there is a big sense of relief after we put so much into it and came out with the result.

"In the first half France showed they are a quality side, they came at us and we had to defend. We found it difficult, but we played some rugby and at half-time we knew we could win if we kept the ball."