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"I hope some people really eat their words because over the last five or six years, there's been criticism of the coaches - all of them.

"They've all had targets on their backs."

Those were the surprisingly pointed words of former Wales captain Sam Warburton, so often placid and calm, in the aftermath of last weekend's Grand Slam triumph.

And perhaps the coach with the biggest target on his back has been attack coach Rob Howley.

It's been easy to deride the former Wales scrum-half, and that derision hasn't stopped in some quarters just because of a third Grand Slam in 11 years for Howley.

For in this tournament, Wales recorded the least amount of metres, carries, line breaks, tackle breaks and tries.

Neil Francis accused Wales of "doing nothing" in attack . There are countless Welsh fans who might agree with the controversial Irish pundit.

But to paraphrase Alan Partridge, can I just shock you?

I think Wales' attack is good. Potentially very good.

PATIENCE AND CLINICAL EFFICIENCY

Not that it even remotely gets it dues.

All of the credit seemingly goes towards Shaun Edwards' defence - which acts as a crutch and a burden to the attack.

Having such a resolute defence that can keep teams out allows Wales to pick and choose when to attack with ball-in-hand and when to trust their skills and organisation without it.

But it also means the general public expect their attack to be as breathtakingly good as the defence.

(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)

Wales are a team capable of varying their game dependent on who they are playing and the conditions they are playing in.

Against England and Scotland, Wales recognised the best way to break down their opponents was by keeping hold of the ball and being patient.

For Cory Hill's 34-phase epic against England, every player bar scrum-half Gareth Davies carried the ball into contact. Wales constantly move the point of attack until England are stretched too thin and eventually buckle.

Patient and efficient ball retention is an area of Wales' attack that has really improved in the last 12 months - as Simon Gleave, Head of Sport Analysis at Gracenote, points out.

"During the 2019 Six Nations Championship, Wales went into the opposition 22 exactly five times in each match, less times than their opposition breached the Wales 22 line in four of those five matches," explains Simon. "The exception was England who entered the Wales 22 on four occasions, by far their lowest return of the championship.

"The 25 controlled entries to the opposition 22 by Wales was the lowest of any of the competing teams but the conversion of these opportunities into points was second best with 3.48 points scored from each entry on average (Six Nations average across all teams was 2.95).

"Only England were better with 4.10 points per 22 visit on average. England's defence though was the worst in the championship bar Italy for allowing points - 3.68 per visit."

(Image: Getty Images)

From the 25 entries, Wales scored 10 tries, had seven penalty attempts (of which they scored six), conceded three penalties (one of which ruled out Ross Moriarty's try against France), three knock-ons (including Liam Williams' try-scoring attempt against France) and two turnovers.

That means 64% of entries into the opposition 22 ended with the scoring of points. 72% included either a score or a genuine attempt at a score.

That's a big improvement on last year's Six Nations - when only 42% of Wales' 38 entries across the tournament resulted in points and just 47% included a score or genuine attempt at scoring.

With the efficiency and accuracy Wales are currently playing with, it gives them the option to let the opposition try to break down their world class defence - often ceding the majority of possession and territory in matches.

However, against England, they faced a side that boasted a higher attacking efficiency - so Wales limited England's 22 entries by keeping hold of the ball.

It's a similar tactic to what the British and Irish Lions did to New Zealand in the Second Test in Wellington in 2017 - cutting their average of nine 22 entries per game down to just three.

That allowed Gatland's clinical Lions to take their opportunities late on and it appears the Kiwi has integrated a similar system after last year's defeat to Ireland in Dublin - the last Wales defeat before this incredible 14-match winning run.

TACTICAL NOUS

As Francis said, Wales did very little against Ireland this year but they didn't need to once the roof - and the heavens - opened.

They worked a try-scoring opportunity in the opening minutes, took it and then just kept their distance in boxing terminology, working some jabs while the Irish were forced to swing more aggresively.

It was tactical perfection in many ways, with the try for Hadleigh Parkes itself beautifully manufactured.

Wales manipulate Ireland's defence from a lineout, relying on Ireland's analysis of the long phase play and pick-and-go heavy work of Wales' outside backs to spring a surprise.

Keeping George North close to the maul forces Irish scrum-half Conor Murray not to drop deep to cover, while Wales' other wing Josh Adams holds his width for another of this attack's weapons - the cross-kick - meaning full-back Rob Kearney has to stay wide.

Fly-half Gareth Anscombe, who has been scanning and bossing the Welsh attack around, notices no one is covering behind and chips in for Parkes to score.

That's all Wales needed to do. After that, they negated the Irish threat and built a lead with penalties. Wales may be last in the Six Nations try count, but they were second in the points scored column and that's down to their penalty success rate.

As Simon Gleave adds, "The Wales attack profited from scoring the most points of any team from moves which never entered the opposition 22.

"Wales kicked 27 points from these situations, 12 more than second best team Italy."

CHANGING HABITS

Back to that idea of playing different ways.

Howley was mocked for talking about 'rugby chaos' on the Lions tour in 2017, but Wales have looked less regimented in unstructured play in the last year.

Against Argentina and South Africa last year in the summer and autumn respectively, Wales put added width on the ball - utilizing quick hands to score some scintillating tries.

Adams' try against Scotland at Murrayfield was a similar example - with Anscombe making use of layered options to pick apart the Scottish defence, working the space for the winger to skin Blair Kinghorn on the outside.

(Image: Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency)

What's helped them in all of this is the added skills and decision-making of their forwards - a clear move by the Welsh coaching staff since the 2016 tour of New Zealand.

Bar Ross Moriarty and Josh Navidi, Wales don't have too many dominant, physical ball-carriers. So having forwards who can move the point of attack with a tip-on pass or offload is vital to making yards.

Against South Africa last year, impressive handling and decision-making from a series of forwards worked the field position for Tomas Francis' opening try - with Ellis Jenkins' dummy pass and break for the assist the perfect example of how far Wales have come in this department.

Also, in Parkes, they have an incredibly intelligent operator at inside centre who is able to work with and bring out the best traits of Wales' three fly-halves.

He can distribute in the wider channels or he can run hard lines off the scrum-half - taking pressure off the fly-half.

Wales at the minute are a really tactically astute side who know when to attack and when to let the opposition play, but when they attack, they aren't as formulaic and one-dimensional as many people believe.

Just watch a highlights reel of their scores in 2018 to give you a flavour of the variation they are capable of applying to attack when they sense the chance is there.

Of course, there are still plenty of areas for work. It would be remiss to claim this attack is perfect. Far from it.

But it feels like Wales are heading in the right direction with this one. Some might say it's just Gatland and Howley going back to what they know best after trying their hands at a more expansive game, but if that is the case, then they've carried some lessons over from playing fast and loose.

If the golden period circa 2012 was deemed Warrenball, then this is Warrenball 2.0.

It's built on the same basic principles, but the cast is more skillful - particularly in the forwards - and it allows for more variation.

In many ways, Wales play like England once did, while England currently play like some Welsh fans hope Wales would.

We know how that worked out in 2003.