All hail centurion Dan Biggar as he becomes just the seventh Welshman to win 100 caps for his country.
Wales' journey through the 2022 Six Nations has been uneven but Biggar has given everything and thrived with the added responsibility of captaincy. There were several moments in that tense and torrid defeat to France which encapsulated his character. Not least his attempts to gee up a Welsh crowd that were flatter than a Crepe Suzette while the French fans sang, roared and were quite literally bouncing.
It was a curious ambiance, not helped by piping in Hymns & Arias – a Welsh home international should never require the stadium equivalent of elevator muzak. And it wasn’t if we weren’t being given anything to shout about, particularly from Biggar himself. As Martin Johnson later eulogised from the punditry box, the Welsh No. 10 was the real man of the match.
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Biggar’s clever kicking strategy helped neutralise French flair for much of the game while his 50:22 was a thing of beauty. And he delivered a cross-kick that might have gained him Clem Thomas levels of cross-kick immortality if poor Jonathan Davies hadn’t fumbled the pass from Taulupe Faletau with the whitewash beckoning.
As Les Blues edged it in their toughest championship test to date, Biggar’s emotional response was as intense as his performance: “I’m frustrated, annoyed, disappointed – all those things,” he said. His commitment and attitude can never be faulted.
And while his detractors will point to a lack of classic Welsh fly-half wizardry, there are times when heart is as important as art. Biggar himself recognises he is not in the golden mould of maverick and mercurial number 10s produced by Max Boyce’s mythical Outside Half Factory.
As he said in a recent interview: “I will never go down as the most skilful player that’s played for Wales by any stretch. There will always be comparisons to Phil Bennett, Barry John, Jonathan Davies. Amazing players. But I’d like to think that in terms of desire, application, fight, toughness and sticking it out that I’d be near the top of the charts. When people say there are more skilful players, I almost take it as a compliment. I’d much rather be tough and display those other attributes than show a flash of skill now and again.”
That toughness has been demonstrated off the field as well as on. It is needed to endure the scrutiny that comes with Wales’ favourite and most fabled sporting position. As Eddie Butler once said: “Wales and the No. 10 shirt have an almost unhealthily close relationship. The vulnerability of little facing big, the chance to strut: it’s Wales all over.”
Neil Jenkins has put it rather more prosaically: “Nowhere else gives the outside-half as much stick as here.” He should know. There were times when Jenks got enough stick to build a bonfire, but each time he was roasted the Ponty phoenix dragged himself from the ashes and flew once more. Biggar has done the same.
The Wales kicking coach paid him a fulsome tribute this week: “He’s been a huge player for Wales over the last 10 or so years and he deserves everything that comes his way. It’s something within – his desire to be the best.”
And just as the Welsh public only really appreciated the skillset of Jenkins once his boots were hung up, so Biggar’s gifts will probably be valued more in retrospect. Not that the 32-year-old whose drama A-level brought him a starring role in Gowerton School’s production of Blood Brothers is ready to bring the curtain down. “The World Cup is a huge aim for me. Then we’ll see what’s next,” he says.
The World Cup stage has already witnessed some of Biggar’s most dramatic performances. In 2015 it wasn’t just his Biggarena twitch and fidget routine that put a smile on the face of the nation. He was pivotal to that titanic victory against England at Twickenham.
As Wales clocked up more injuries than a script for Holby City, Biggar’s kicking kept the team in touch in this frenetic clash. With Leigh Halfpenny out of the squad, respect had been paid to Biggar’s penalty-taking duties but his range had been questioned. He answered the doubters with a sublime strike from the halfway line that gave Wales the lead with six minutes to go.
With three minutes to go, it was England’s turn to decide their destiny with the boot. Eschewing the chance of a draw, they kicked for the corner rather than the posts and had the hubristic consequences as the Welsh pack shoved their driving lineout off the park.
Wales then just had to survive a final scrum, another nerve-shredding prospect given three English penalties had been gained from this set piece. But as the ball was deftly fed, hooked and delivered to Biggar the final excruciating seconds ticked away before the clock turned red and the man of the match booted the ball into the crowd, transporting Welsh fans into utter delirium as he punched the air with joy.
Biggar embodied the indefatigable spirit of his squad that night: “Whatever is thrown at us - players going off, down on the scoreboard, everyone writing us off - we pull together tighter,” he said.
It was a career-crowning display: “The 2015 World Cup victory over England, it put me on another level,” he said, adding: “I became that go-to guy. It took a little bit of adjusting for the first couple of months, but I’d always wanted to be the main man for Wales. That cemented it.”
The following global tournament would bring the match that stays with Biggar for different reasons: “The 2019 World Cup semi-final against South Africa was the lowest I‘ve been after a rugby game. We lost 19-16, there was nothing in it and we’d have played England in the final. My family were there too and it’s the game I keep playing back in my mind.”
But if there’s one thing that gives Biggar perspective in rugby’s cruellest moments, it’s family, whether it’s his young son James or his wife Alex, the childhood sweetheart he describes as his “biggest fan”. Among her supportive tactics is filling his kitbag with motivational notes.
Sadly, there will be one family member missing on Saturday as Biggar reaches his special milestone. He lost his mother Liz last year – the mother who took him as a 14-year-old on the “trip of a lifetime” to the 2003 World Cup where he was inspired by the talents of Jonny Wilkinson. The mother who watched the Lions squad announcement from her hospital bed and urged him to go to South Africa whatever the circumstances. The mother whose words he cherishes every day.
In an interview with the Daily Mail he revealed her poignant message: "Before she passed away last year, she wrote me a little note saying, 'Wishing you all the happiness in the world. Today, tomorrow and always. Lots and lots of love, Mum’. I always keep that by the side of my bed. It’s the first thing I look at in the morning and the last thing I look at at night. It will be very emotional knowing that the one person I would really want there can’t be there.”
How proud she would be. And Wales should also be proud of centurion Dan and his decade of dogged commitment to the cause. He is aiming to ensure his team ends the campaign “on a high” with a third-place finish possible if a bonus-point victory over Italy combines with other results going Wales’ way.
“There’s no doubt we’re in a much better place than when we kicked off against Ireland in Dublin,” he said. Biggar and better – that should give Welsh fans something to shout about in their Six Nations finale.
