Callum Sheedy insists his hard work on the training ground with Neil Jenkins was key to his superb late kicking performance as Wales defeat England 40-24 to secure the Triple Crown on Saturday.
The Bristol Bears star kicked 13 second-half points after coming on for Dan Biggar after the interval in Cardiff, as he helped keep Eddie Jones’ side at arm’s length with a perfect performance with the boot.
It was the ideal response from the 25-year-old, who missed two of his three attempts from the kicking tee in his side’s 25-24 victory over Scotland in Round 2.
And the fly-half admitted the influence of Jenkins – who is Wales’ highest ever scorer with 1049 points to his name – helped him to shrug off the performance at BT Murrayfield a fortnight previously.
“The public get excited when you win and kick you when you lose, I couldn’t kick snow off the road last week according to the public and I’ll probably be a decent kicker now,” Sheedy said.
“I’ve done a lot of work with Jenks [Neil Jenkins] who’s the best ever, in terms of kicking.
“I’ve got to trust the process and not let the occasion and the kick get to you, and take each kick as it comes, and thankfully it went straight down the middle.
“It all just feels like a blur, to even put the shirt on for Wales is an unbelievable achievement, and to get the Triple Crown and beat England like that is definitely up there in terms of what I’ve done in my career so far, so I’m really buzzing.”
Sheedy was one of a number of players who excelled off the bench for Wales at Principality Stadium, with Wayne Pivac utilising all the options available to him in the barnstorming victory in the Welsh capital.
Fellow replacement Cory Hill scored the try that earned the hosts the bonus-point late on, while Willis Halaholo also stood out with a dominant performance at centre for the last half hour.
And Sheedy believes the competition for places is what is pushing Wales on even further in 2021, as they remain unbeaten through their first three matches of the Championship.
“Full credit to the boys who are starting, because they’re keeping us in the game and they’re playing well for the first 50,60,70, they’re doing their job.
“Test match rugby now is evolving, and you can’t win a game with just 16 or 17 men, you need all 23, and as a squad we’ve got 30 odd people and everyone is pushing each other.
“And moving forward that’s how we’re going to get to the top, the boys who are underneath the starters will be pushing them to perform their best.”
But despite topping the table after three rounds, Sheedy admits that the Wales squad are keeping their feet firmly on the ground ahead of the final two rounds of this year’s Championship.
Trips to Rome and Paris are coming up for the Welsh side after the upcoming fallow week, and the fly-half is confident no one in the squad is getting ahead of themselves as they go in search of a second Grand Slam in three years.
“It’s a nice position to be in, but it can all change in two or three weeks,” Sheedy said.
“The word Grand Slam won’t be in the circle, Alun Wyn Jones won’t allow that, we’ve got some unbelievable leaders here, very experienced players who’ve been around for years and they’ve been round the block.
“We know Italy will be a very dangerous side, as we saw in the Autumn, we weren’t great against them but they definitely tested us.
“Going to Italy is going to be very tough, we’re under no illusions and I know Al won’t let any complacency get into this squad and rightly so, we haven’t done anything yet, we won the Triple Crown but we move onto Italy which will be a huge test.”
