Betting tips / Ralph Ellis / 21 September 2011 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

Shane Williams retires after the tournament but with a try-scoring record in sight and a likely quarter-final against Ireland - beaten 19-13 at the Six Nations - could the little legend take Wales all the way?

There's a new book due out soon profiling the sporting legends of Wales. Triumph and Tragedy, it's called, written by the Daily Mail's brilliant former rugby correspondent Peter Jackson. It starts with Jimmy Murphy, the emergency manager who began the rebuilding of Manchester United after the Munich air disaster - and it goes on through the likes of John Charles, Gareth Edwards and Ian Woosnam right up to the modern day greatness of Ryan Giggs.

I can't help feeling that Jacko, now retired but currently in New Zealand helping out with coverage of the World Cup, must be placing long distance calls to his publishers suggesting they wait a bit longer to add one more chapter - for Shane Williams. Otherwise how could you chronicle the lives of the best sportsmen to come from the valleys, but leave out a man who scores more tries than any other in the history of Test rugby?

At the moment the record - 64 - belongs to David Campese and has stood for 15 years. But Williams needs just seven more to match it, and you wouldn't rule out that happening in the next couple of weeks.

He can certainly help himself to a hatful next Monday when Warren Gatland's side play Namibia. The handicap will be 53.5 points and that's for a good reason - the Africans will have had just four days to recover from playing South Africa, while Wales have got ten days to get rested and ready for the fray.

After that there's the final group game with Fiji, and the clock is ticking because Williams, at 34, has announced today that he'll quit international rugby at the end of the tournament. The big question is: when will that be?

With a losing bonus point against the reigning champions, and having beaten Samoa, you'd certainly expect Wales to reach the quarter-final - and the chance to still back them at between [1.2] and [1.39] looks an easy way to turn a quick profit. But there are good reasons to suggest that Gatland's side could go further and be worth backing at up to [2.54] to reach the semi-finals.

The stats of their 17-10 win over Samoa make interesting reading. Samoa had more possession (55%), more territory (55%), and spent nearly twice as much time in the opposing 22 (nearly 12 minutes as against just over five). Yet Wales, having blown the opportunity to beat South Africa a week earlier, did what they had to do to get the win - suggesting they learned important lessons from their opening game. Williams got the vital try, but the performance of young skipper Sam Warburton was inspirational.

Likely quarter-final opponents Ireland might have won the plaudits from the first couple of weeks of the tournament, but they will hold no fears for the Welsh. It's only six months since they scored a 19-13 win over Declan Kidney's men, and that will provide a morale booster.

After that, who knows? Could there even be a complete 15 new Welsh legends to add to that book?

Five things you might not know about Sam Warburton
1. Born October 1988 in Cardiff, he was one of twins. Dad Jeremy was a fireman who had moved from Bury to work for the Welsh service

2. He went to school with - and played in the same school team as - Tottenham and Wales midfielder Gareth Bale. He and his twin brother both had trials to play football for Cardiff

3. He passed 'O' and 'A' levels and started at university studying medicine before realising he couldn't continue with full time education if he wanted to play professional rugby

4. He switches his phone off for 24 hours before games and won't talk to family, friends, or anybody not connected with the match he's about to play in

5. He's a thrash metal music fan - favourite band is System Of A Down