Dan Biggar makes Six Nations selection plea to Warren Gatland
Former Wales captain Dan Biggar has said that this Guinness Six Nations is the “perfect opportunity” for head coach Warren Gatland to trial out some inexperienced players as they start building towards the 2027 World Cup.
No team has witnessed such a dramatic exodus of their seasoned stalwarts over the past year than Wales, with the most capped player in Test history Alun Wyn Jones retiring before the World Cup alongside Justin Tipuric, and Biggar and Leigh Halfpenny, both centurions, also hanging up their international boots after Wales’ quarter-final exit in France.
Outside of the retired contingent, another centurion Taulupe Faletau is yet to return from a broken arm, meaning Gatland has seen the mother lode of experience ripped from him in recent months.
With captain Jac Morgan set to miss the Championship after undergoing knee surgery, Gatland may have little choice but to take heed of what his former fly-half Biggar said on BBC 5 Live Sport’s ‘The 2024 Guest List‘ show recently, where he said that there is “a lot of talented Welsh youngsters playing in the regions” who Gatland should try out at the beginning of this World Cup cycle.
“From a Welsh point of view,” the Toulon fly-half said to Mark Chapman on the show. “We are at a stage where we have to to find out a little bit more about players. Because we’ve got a lot of players who are right at the start of their career, with maybe a handful of caps, and what we had was a lot of players who were towards the end of their career with a big number of caps. So from a Welsh point of view, it’s difficult to know what’s going to be put out on the pitch because there are a lot of unknown combinations, a lot players who are going to be involved in their first squad ever.
“So I couldn’t tell you how the Six Nations is going to pan out, but I do believe there is a lot of talented Welsh youngsters playing in the regions at the minute and if you’re going to give any youth and inexperience a chance, this is the perfect opportunity at the start of a four year cycle before the World Cup and you’re able to put in place what you want to build on over the next three-and-a-half years.”
Wales are not the only side that have lost a welter of experience since the World Cup, with Biggar’s longstanding No10 rivals Johnny Sexton, Owen Farrell and Romain Ntamack all set to be absent for varying reasons. It is for that reason that the 112-cap Wales international says that this Championship will be very hard to call.
“I genuinely couldn’t tell you how the Six Nations is going to go,” he said. “France are going to be without [Antoine] Dupont and [Romain] Ntamack for the first time in four or five years. England are going to be without Owen Farrell and Courtney Lawes as well. How are Ireland going to cope in the first time in what seems like forever in the non Johnny Sexton era. From a Welsh point of view, a lot of players have retired or are not available for the Six Nations.
“I suppose I don’t know how any team is going to respond. If you look at it, Scotland are probably the most settled and probably had the most disappointing World Cup. So it really is a tough one.”
While Biggar was reluctant to say who he thought would come out victorious from the tournament, he did emphasise that the Six Nations is a “momentum tournament”. Biggar speaks from experience when he stressed how much easier the Six Nations becomes when a team wins their opening matches.
Wales’ 2019 Grand Slam success proves this the most, as Biggar’s side were far from convincing in their opening match against France, but overcame a 16-0 half-time deficit at the Stade de France to win and built momentum from there.
He said: “The Six Nations is such a momentum tournament where if you win your first couple of games, it’s such an easier tournament. You’ve got your down week to prep for your next game. Whereas if you lose your first one or two, there’s so much pressure on your next game and your next game and all of a sudden you’re looking at finishing fourth or fifth or bottom of the table.
“Above any other competition I’ve played in, it’s such a momentum tournament and getting off to a good start is so, so important.”
Wales get their Six Nations campaign underway against Scotland at the Principality Stadium on February 3.
Comments on RugbyPass
Danny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to comments