No change from us, insists Biggar as Wales look to take it to the Boks again
DAN Biggar can never be accused of being a shrinking violet.
His performance for Wales at Loftus Versfeld in the summer series opener was everything that Biggar has always been – emotional and right on the edge – and it resonated with Wales supporters.
Biggar and his team were roundly written off ahead of the first South Africa Test, but 14 other Welshmen put pride back in the red jersey by rallying behind their captain.
It was a performance not without its faults.
There was a yellow card, which Biggar made no secret of disagreeing with, two missed conversions, one of which would have given Wales a late two-point lead, and the concession of a crucial final penalty.
In years gone by, the fall out for the fly-half may well have been ugly, but not this time.
Biggar epitomised everything that was good about Wales and he was unapologetic about it afterwards.
He orchestrated an 18-3 half-time lead as Wales played some of their shrewdest rugby under Wayne Pivac but it was a night which, ultimately, ended in defeat.
Reflecting on things a few days on, Biggar smiles: “That kind of performance sort of sums me up, really. I was disappointed to have not knocked the last conversion over.
“But those things happen. I spoke to [kicking coach] Neil Jenkins and there is no real stress or issue over it. I felt there was a real edge to my game and that’s when I feel like I’m where I need to be.
“I was really happy with large parts of it.
“We scored three good tries and I felt like there was plenty of control to the game.
“We played in the right areas, got ourselves into a good lead. But ultimately, we’re just disappointed with the way that it ended.”
Disappointed is likely an understatement.
There was a time in Biggar’s career, particularly in his formative years, when he would have taken the defeat particularly heavily.
Combined, his two missed conversions ultimately proved the difference between the two sides, but with experience he has learned to brush it off.
“It would have been very different,” he laughs when asked how a young Biggar would have dealt with the loss.
“You’d have had to do this interview by the door of my hotel room because I’d probably not have left it yet.
“It is what it is. I’ve been lucky enough to knock some good ones over in my career and you’re going to miss the odd one or two.
“There is no stress and it’s just about making sure we go again this week and putting ourselves in a position to win it again.”
Part of the Biggar package is that he wears his heart on his sleeve. You will never have to try too hard to guess how he is feeling and, last Saturday, his feelings were particularly evident.
The fly-half was letting his thoughts be known regarding particular refereeing decisions as inexperienced official Nika Amashukeli flashed four yellow cards in Wales’ direction.
When asked how he handled the relationship with the referee, Wales’ skipper said: “It wasn’t an issue for me.
“He probably didn’t quite like the niggle in the game, [being] a bit more of an inexperienced ref, he probably wanted to control things a bit more from that point of view.
“But that’s what you want from Test matches. I really believe that.
You want a real bit of edge, niggle and needle in the game.
“I thought it was perfect for both sides.
“From our point of view, we’ll try to control things a little bit better in that sense but I don’t think it was a huge issue.
“In that second half, things just got away from us a little bit in terms of our own discipline. We backed up quite a lot, which probably made things seem a little bit worse than what they were.”
He insisted Wales would not be changing their approach, adding: “We had a real edge to us and we make no apologies for that, for trying to get amongst South Africa, getting under their skin a little bit and turn it into a bit of a scrap as well.
“We’re well aware that if we just gift them everything and roll over then we’re going to come off second best quite comfortably.
“So I think that was a very good approach for us to have a real edge to us. That’s something we want to try to replicate.”