Martyn Williams has warned that Wales are "not the finished article" despite their dominant form in European rugby. Williams and his team-mates visit Paris at the end of the month having won their first two matches in defence of their Six Nations title.
Victory over France would see them equal the record of nine successive Six Nations wins jointly held by France and England, whom Wales beat 23-15 yesterday. Wales are also unbeaten in the Six Nations under head coach Warren Gatland.
But amid such heady times for the Welsh game, Williams, who has been capped 86 times and scored two tries in Wales' remarkable win in Paris four years ago, insists there cannot be even the remotest hint of complacency.
"We knew it was always going to be an arm-wrestle against England," said the flanker, following the victory at the Millennium Stadium. "A lot of those England players know what it is like to win World Cups and get to World Cup finals – they are born winners. They were always going to make it difficult for us, and that was one of the toughest games I've played in for a long time.
"It was a game where we had everything to lose and nothing to gain. Everyone seemed to be saying we were going to walk over them, but we just wanted to come up with a win. It was very physical, but our mentality was good. We handled being overwhelming favourites well."
There were times, though, when Wales let their intensity level slip, unable to pull emphatically away from leads of 9-0 and 20-8 as England dug their heels in.
Williams admitted: "We let them [England] back into the game a couple of times when we probably should have seen them off. We did the same thing in Scotland last week. We let them back into the game, and we really should start to bury sides.
"We know we are not the finished article, and there is a lot to work on. We've got a lot of experience, our physical conditioning has gone up another level, we know we can go the full 80 minutes. It's a little bit of everything, really."
Williams was glad Wales had time to regroup ahead of the game against France on Friday week. "It's good we have got a bit of a break now – there are a lot of battered and bruised bodies after two games in six days," he said. "Going to Paris is one of the toughest places in the world to play. We've had two wins, but we've got a lot to work on, which is good. "
