SIX NATIONS: WALES FOCUS ON SHANE WILLIAMS:Shane Williams had a quiet game against Italy and is determined to put things right, reports JOHNNY WATTERSON

THE IMPULSE is often to reduce a match to just one simple aspect, the kicking, the lineouts, the scrum, lifeless statistics, individual brilliance. The truth of the outcome is always more complex. In Shane Williams, Wales field a bewitching player who has the numbers and the dazzle. The match-breaking Welsh winger is a player Ireland should fear.

All too frequently the 2008 IRB World Player of The Year has been the catalyst in Welsh victories or the reason for them. Unlike the ice-hearted Ronan O’Gara, whose talent is reliably timetabled to the set-piece and assuredly as important for Irish hopes, Williams is the whimsical menace who can startle international defences into flat-footed observers.

Although not without flaw, the one-time scrumhalf, who almost gave up rugby, represents a triumph of ability over the game’s current convention of naked power. At 5ft 7in, Williams strides a world of Mastodons, a probing, hot-wired miniature and something much more dangerous than a Grand Slam nuisance.

Last year six championship tries were his triumphant coming of age, while this season has been a frustrating second act. His understanding of the laws of rugby and performance may now be that two perfect seasons rarely run back to back.

However, in beating off Kiwi Dan Carter, his Welsh comrade and captain Ryan Jones, Scotland’s Mike Blair and Italian back row Serge Parisse to last year’s world award, Williams has reached a rugby benchmark that has him in esteemed company, one where he comfortably sits.

Last week that comfort zone was shattered. Williams never saw any Welsh moves coming out to the rim, with players broadly agreeing that the ball was kicked to almighty, resulting in the departing Welsh centre Gavin Henson stewing in his own hissy-fit. The Rome experience, if anything, served to extend Wales’ run of patchy performances.

“If I score four tries at the weekend I’d be quite happy,” Williams says in a gentle Welsh lilt. “I’d equal last year. That’s the way it goes. As a nation we’d be the first to say that we haven’t performed to our potential. There is a lot more to come.

“Personally I’m working as hard as ever to get involved in these games, but I found it very difficult last weekend with the likes of the kicking game.

“So it hasn’t gone as well as last season and to be fair, it hadn’t done before either. I’m going to keep trying to get involved as much as I can and that’s all I can really ask of myself.

“I knew that coming into this year’s tournament it was going to be pretty difficult. Certainly I could feel the pressure on the field, almost man-marked or even double-marked. But that’s the way it goes. I’ve been in this position before. I’m a better player now than I’ve ever been and I need to take that on the chin and work my way around it.”

In March 2008 Williams became the Welsh all-time try-scoring record holder with a touch down against France. The record, held previously by Gareth Thomas, had been taken by Williams just seven days after he had equalled the Thomas mark with his try against Ireland in Croke Park. He then took the mark to 46, when he broke from his largely spectator role against Italy last week. In his try-scoring wake alongside Thomas are a series of Welsh luminaries, among them Gareth Edwards, Gerald Davies and Ieuan Evans.

“I’m as hungry as I ever was, working as hard, getting on the final pass,” he says. “I’ve scored a couple of tries. But maybe that’s not enough for me. I’m a greedy individual. I enjoyed myself so much last year I want a bit of the same this year. It doesn’t always go your way. I haven’t always performed as I’d like to but there is lot of rugby to go and I’m full of confidence and confidence in my abilities as well.”

While always prepared to and capable of performing trademark runs replete with hairpin changes of direction and acceleration in heavy traffic, one of William’s profitable sideshow acts is to introduce his team-mates to the game action. With players like Lions fullback probable Lee Byrne running off him as well as centre Gavin Henson, the Ospreys axis plays a significant role in the Welsh attack.

Defensively Williams, because of his height, may be vulnerable to crossfield kicks as well as the occasional behemoth wing or pack mule wallowing in the luxury of a one-on-one five metres out. But the Welsh thinking is that if that big-small imbalance materialises then all security measures put in place before it have failed.

His Ospreys team-mate Tommy Bowe stands opposite, a full head taller but the ever-improving Ulsterman understands that spatial awareness, peripheral vision and light feet are occasionally attributes you can only admire rather than destroy.

“To be fair he [Bowe] was one of our best signings,” says Williams graciously.

“A great all-rounder, he scores tries for fun. He’s a big lad as well. I think he’s about two foot taller than me, so a bit of a mismatch, I’d say.

“He’s a very good defence, scores tries for Ospreys and Ireland. He is a really good player. It’s certainly going to be a battle there.”

More pertinently Wales must bring their entire 80 minutes package to the match for a player like Williams to thrive. Secondrow Ian Gough said earlier in the week that front fives win matches. What he meant was they provide platforms for free spirits like Williams.

“For 65 minutes against Scotland I thought we played very well,” says the winger. “We played well for 60 minutes against England and then started the game against France well. [We] tried running it a little bit too much against France; got criticised for that by ourselves, then took it too literally about kicking the ball against Italy. Hopefully this week we can get the balance.

“We’d be the first to say we haven’t played to our full potential in the Six Nations. I think we kicked it 49 times in Rome. What a better time to play out of our skin than against an Irish side coming to take the Grand Slam from us.

“It’s a little bit personal,” he adds.

“This would be the time to get it right. We know there is a very good Irish team coming to the Millennium Stadium to take the trophy off us.”

Personal for Wales. Personal for Williams too. That’s the truth.