“I'm not your typical Welsh fly-half and I make no apologies for being different,” Dan Biggar says with a wry smile in a small seaside restaurant in Toulon. “I quite like the fact that I'm different and I do things my own way.”
Storm clouds roll in from the sea; the atmospheric scenery enhances the conversation with Biggar, who is a friendly, thoughtful man in stark contrast to his pretentious image on the rugby field. The darkening sky recalls Wales, which to Biggar has “always been the land of poets and dreamers”.
It has also long been a rugby-mad nation, where the fly-half in the red No. 10 shirt has often been revered or vilified. Biggar speaks eloquently of his “fascinating” predecessors, and in his excellent new book he writes of the glorious giants who came before him: “Barry John, the king, gliding past like a ghost as if the defender wasn't there; Phil Bennett, the hot-step player who stopped time with his zigzags and waves; Jonathan Davies, the mischievous genius who lit the afterburners and left a scorch mark in his wake.”
But no one spoke French as well as Bigger, and no one could match his 112 caps, more than any other fly-half in Welsh rugby history who wore the number 10 shirt. Nor did he have to endure the harsh criticism that dogged him throughout his long career. As Bigger said, “I was too slow. I stood too deep. I was impatient, aggressive, monotonous. I kicked too much and ran too little… Where Barry John painted, I illustrated. Pragmatism over romanticism, that was me.”
That pragmatism gives Biggar a clarity of thought that allows him to detail the perpetual grind of Welsh rugby, convey his enthusiasm for playing in France and explain why many top Welsh and English players could benefit from the kind of professional change that reinvigorated him at Toulon.
Wales is never far from his mind, and as we look out over the tiny, once-sunny beach, Biggar is reminded of home. He grew up in Langennith, a tiny seaside village on the edge of the Gower Peninsula. Biggar was less keen on rugby than he was on surfing and Manchester United.
Dan Biggar has played in the No.10 position more than anyone else for Wales, but that doesn't protect him from the occasional biting criticism. Photo: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
“It's funny,” Biggar continues, “when people think of Wales they think of valleys and terraced houses on corners and rugby clubs with a sense of community, but for me it was completely different because I was isolated. There was no shop in the village so you had to drive 15 minutes to get a pint of milk and there was no rugby club. So now being in Toulon feels like a return to life, even though the weather is usually much sunnier than it is today.”
Biggar recalls that just as he grew up on the fringe, he also had to struggle to be accepted at the heart of Welsh rugby. “I still feel like I have to prove myself because it's ingrained in me. I don't want sympathy, but I've had to do things the hard way. My first five years at Wales were really tough, there were a lot of ups and downs and just when you think you've taken one step forward, you take two steps back.
“So I'm incredibly proud to have won over 100 caps for my country and to have done it in that shirt is an even greater achievement. When you're playing well and the team is winning, it's the easiest job in the world, but when the team is struggling it seems like every problem comes down to the kit. It was the same with Neil Jenkins and Stephen Jones before me. Anyone who knows rugby knows that sometimes a number 10 can't make any impact when you're losing a scrum or a lineout. But in Wales we have an obsession with the fly-half and if we don't play well or don't score four tries, it has to be a number 10.”
Biggar generally shrugs off the soap opera, saying: “It was actually quite fun to take a bit of flak and then prove everyone wrong the next week. But around 2017, after we lost to Scotland in the Six Nations, I sat in the kitchen with my wife and said, 'Is it worth wearing the number 10 shirt for Wales, with all the problems and hardships that come with it?' Sometimes it feels like the number 10 shirt is strangling you. When things aren't going your way, you feel confined in that jersey. So you have to be mentally tough and I'm glad I broke the mould. I want people to say I was mentally tough, determined and competitive.”
“It's not so much anger, it's a real desire and a desire to win. As you get older and more experienced, you tend to relax because you understand that it's not always possible to achieve those things. Off the field, I think I'm a totally different person. But I really hate it when players don't say anything after the game. They just give the cookie-cutter answers that the PR people want and waste everyone's time. Players need to be themselves and not be afraid. No matter what you say, there will always be people who disagree.
“On the other hand, if you want the players to give you open, honest and straightforward answers then the media can't distort it or go for sensational headlines. But I don't care what people think. I want to be true to myself and do what's best for the team I play for.”
Dan Biggar is sceptical that Warren Gatland (left) will be successful in returning as Wales manager. Photo: David Fitzgerald/Sportfile/Getty Images
There is an encouraging candor in Biggar's book. Describing the sometimes unsettling mind games used by Warren Gatland when the Welsh Rugby Union offered the New Zealander the chance to return as head coach in December 2022, Biggar writes: “There's the old adage you should never go back and that was my initial reaction to Gatland's reappointment. It all felt a little outdated.”
He added: “Guts's history speaks for itself, so I think in the short term it was the right choice because he performed well at the World Cup. The question is what happens in the long term. My instinct is it's always difficult when you come back. Obviously Wales are in a bit of pain but they have a bit of a run around in terms of off-field issues, finances and the fact that some players have retired. But Guts is a smart guy and he knows if you don't get results you'll reach your limit.”
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Biggar, who retired from international play after last year's World Cup, details the turmoil in Welsh rugby. “Self-harming has been a speciality of Welsh rugby,” he claims, while also revealing that the economic crisis that has rocked Welsh rugby has seen at least one national team-mate take antidepressants and another denied a mortgage because of a lack of job prospects. “This wasn't about numbers on a spreadsheet or abstract policy issues like the 60-cap rule, it was about real life,” Biggar stresses.
Biggar was particularly disappointed at his failure to keep cool after a bitter dispute with the WRU last year saw some of his colleagues threaten a full-blown strike, and has made it clear that he and other key players refused to play against England in the Six Nations unless a series of conditions were met.
One of their conditions was to scrap the rules regarding the selection of overseas-based players. Previously, players earning a living outside Wales had to win 60 caps to be eligible for international selection. That number was eventually cut to 25, but to Biggar it was the sort of unsatisfactory whitewash that characterized the sorry compromise struck between players and the union.
“It was obviously a tough time,” Bigger said. “We started out strong, but I don't think anyone had the wherewithal to see it through to the end. They were happy to take what they were given, but I don't look at it as a victory. I just felt like it didn't help a lot of people. So it was unfortunate. Time will tell if it was the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do.”
Biggar, who has already won 100 caps for Wales, won a Grand Slam and is a starting number 10 for the Lions, said of the proposed strike: “It definitely wasn't for me because the only thing we could have lost was our match fee. So I tried to say, 'Look, this isn't for us here. This is for the next 10, 15, 20 years of Welsh rugby'. I felt we had a golden opportunity to do something and we didn't go through with it. People have to make their own choices but you can't complain after the fact because things didn't go your way. I think it will go down in history as a pretty dark time for Welsh rugby.”
The dire results continue on and off the field. “Uncertainty is the real problem,” Biggar argues. “The situation is not good, regional teams are not performing as well, but teams don't know their budgets until the last minute. Test teams are also [nine] A losing streak. But we have to be a little lenient because we lost a lot of experienced players.
“Football is in a completely different place to when mine, Leigh Halfpenny and Sam Warburton's generation were coming up. I remember Sam and I did a Sky Sports piece about Wales v Australia in the summer and we said we weren't claiming we were perfect every week against Wales – we lost seven in a row against them – but we knew what we needed to do to win. Wales have some promising young players so it will be interesting to see how the next 12 months go.”
The French Top 14 is rugby's richest-funded and most demanding domestic league but, free from Wales' checkered history and constant hardship, Biggar hopes to play one more season for Toulon when his contract finishes next summer. “Sitting here today, I think how lucky I am to be having lunch here on my day off. Yesterday afternoon, after training, my wife Alex and I took our two sons and went down to the beach for a couple of hours. The quality of life is incredible.
“I'll be 35 next month and I've seen several players struggling to keep playing, looking for a club or a job. I know how lucky I am. So if the time comes in eight or 18 months time when I have to retire, I wouldn't mind at all because I have given it my all. I've had a really great career, I've had good and bad times but I'm very happy with myself. After all these years it feels like a gift.”
The Bigger Picture, available from the Guardian Bookstore for £19.80, will be published by Pan Macmillan on September 26th.
