Dan Biggar probably didn't expect rose petals to be thrown his way when he headed into Rodney Parade to play for the Ospreys at the age of 19.
But maybe being serenaded with a chorus or five of "what a load of rubbish" wasn't exactly how he'd hoped the evening would pan out. Those doing the barracking evidently weren’t too partial to Biggar’s penchant at the time for wearing his heart on his sleeve and sometimes even venting his frustration at referees.
TV had shown the then kid upbraiding officials, sometimes even throwing his hands in the air, such was his displeasure. But, still, he was a teenager.
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The Ospreys lost the game to the Dragons 30-24, and for a young player that evening all those years ago must have been a tough one to take. Yet a few days later Biggar turned up at his region’s training base in Llandarcy for a pre-arranged interview. If he was still on a low after his treatment from a section of the Newport crowd, he made a good job of concealing it.
He told this writer: “I guess it goes with the territory. For a fly-half, so much depends on the quality of possession. If the ball is quick and the No. 10 is on the front foot, anyone can look good.
“But it is a lot harder when possession is scrappier. It’s up to supporters what they chant. They pay their money. All I can do is try to perform the best I can for the Ospreys.”
He was actually in good company that night, for the locals charmed Mike Phillips with a few bars of “you’re just a waste of money”. For the record, Phillips wasn’t bothered, either.
Fast-forward 13 years and Biggar has captained Wales. Those who have followed his career will have noted how he has matured on and off the pitch, how he has become a skilled media performer and ultra-consistent player who’s gained respect from team-mates, coaches, opponents and rugby followers alike.
His journey has been a fascinating to record.
There has been no shortage of criticism along the way. But here’s the thing: the bullets tend to bounce off him. Of all the many fly-halves Wales have picked over the years, Daniel Rhys Biggar may well be the toughest mentally.
Back in his days as a pupil at Gowerton School in Swansea, he may well have gone along to watch the All Whites of Scott Gibbs, Colin Charvis, Mark Taylor, Tyrone Maullin, Garin Jenkins and Arwel Thomas. They used to run out at St Helen’s to the strains of the old Chumbawamba song, Tubthumping, the one which starts “I get knocked down, but I get up again / You are never gonna to keep me down”. The words could have been written about Biggar and what has unfolded since he came through at the Ospreys.
He hadn’t made his debut for the region when he startled the then coaches and joint-managing director.
“He was around 17 when he came on to me, Lyn Jones and Mike Cuddy at the Liberty to tell us he’d been offered a couple of scholarships in London, with Harlequins and Saracens, I think,” said former Ospreys coach Sean Holley. “The three of us were sat in the coaches’ room before a game when there was a knock on the door and in walked Daniel, who said: ‘Mr Cuddy, Mr Jones, Mr Holley, you may have heard I’ve had offers to take up scholarships with big clubs over the border, but I want you to know face-to-face that I’m staying at the Ospreys, I’m going to play for Wales and I’m going to be first-choice No. 10.’ And out he walked. The three of us couldn’t say a word.”
Biggar vowed in that interview at Llandarcy in late 2008 that he wouldn’t stop being vocal on the pitch just because people wanted him to. “The No. 10 runs the game and it’s his job to tell people what he wants,” he said. “I can’t play a game while keeping my mouth shut.”
That said, ordering around team-mates has sometimes landed him in tight corners, never more so than when he had the misfortune to vex Jerry Collins.
“Even as a youngster, he would happily boss around senior players like Alun Wyn Jones, Filo Tiatia — even Jerry Collins — in training,” said Holley. “This one particular day he got on the wrong side of Jerry. Jerry had made a mistake with his role during a play and Daniel screamed at him. Jerry chased him around the training ground. But Daniel wasn’t afraid to tell people where they needed to be.”
Collins wasn’t alone in reacting to the kid’s audacity.
Even mild-mannered team-mates came close to losing it with him, among them, Adam Jones, one of life’s nice guys who had possibly never previously encountered the phenomenon of descending red mist until Biggar chose to appraise him of what needed to be done in the celebrated prop’s specialist area.
“It was quite funny,” Ian Gough later recalled. “I think we’d been playing one of the heavyweight sides in Europe and our scrum had been under a bit of pressure.
“Dan was trying to dish out what Bomb saw as scrummaging advice. He was telling Adam: ‘Can’t you try to get the ball to the back of the scrum quicker so that it comes to me earlier?’ Bomb came across to me and said: ‘Goughie, shut that f****r up before I do’. It was all forgotten about later, but it made me chuckle.”
The Wales captaincy in 2022 was reward for Biggar’s staying power and development as a player and person over the years. He may not have skippered a team at senior level before, but he is has been a leader for some time. He has vast experience, intelligence and he commands the respect of team-mates. Although it remains to be seen who returning Wales head coach Warren Gatland will name as captain in 2023, Biggar is solidly assured of his place.
His humour came to the fore upon being handed a new role, with the new skipper he was the only one left to select given injuries to the likes of Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric, Ken Owens, Taulupe Faletau, George North and Josh Navidi at the time.
“I’m not surprised Wales have given him the job,” said Holley. "Daniel is a mainstay, Wales first-choice 10, and in a position of authority. Daniel has always been a leader. He’s brilliant around the camp, he gets on with the media, which is a big thing in the Six Nations. I’m delighted for him. He deserves it.”
For Holley, Biggar has done it his way and focused on what he’s good at rather than try to be something he’s not: “He’s proven a lot of people wrong. When he came onto the scene, there were still people in Wales crying out for a Phil Bennett, Jonathan Davies or a James Hook-type player, a mercurial 10. Daniel was very different but what he was able to do was control the blitz defences that were coming in. He’s a good kicker, he’s able to play flat to the line, he’s very much a team man.
“For a coach, he’s great to have in the side. I never had any doubts about him. He was the model professional when he came in, a kid with a great head on him who was a lovely boy off the pitch. I always tell people he’s the boy you’d want your daughter to marry.
“On the field, he’s a warrior. In his early days there might have been concern from Swansea coaches that his tackling was suspect, but he improved and his defence is fantastic now, as good as any other fly-half in the world in that respect. He’s brilliant under the high ball and his kicking skills are renowned.”
Biggar's kindness and generosity both on and off the field are well-known in rugby circles, too.
After helping Northampton annihilate Worcester Warriors 66-10 last season, he took the time to offer some words of advice and reassurance to his 19-year-old opposite number Fin Smith despite just giving him a very harsh lesson on the pitch, scoring 19 points, including a try, and orchestrating a 10-try romp in exquisite fashion.
After his final home match for the Ospreys, it was a typically human gesture of the Wales international to give his jersey to a young fan after the game. He also spent time with many other young supporters, signing autographs, taking selfies and saying farewells.
In the summer of 2021, kept a promise to Penclawdd RFC while on the Lions tour in South Africa, taking the club's flag with him and roping in his Lions team-mates to pose with it after victory in the first Test.
The Lions tour, during which he started all three Tests, came just weeks after his mum Liz had passed away after a long battle with cancer. Biggar and his family have since been supporting and fundraising for Bowel Cancer UK.
"I had two huge aims over the last 12 months - to be a Lions Test starter and reach 100 caps for Wales," he said earlier in 2022. "Then to go on and get the Wales captaincy as well, she would have loved that and been really proud of it. It would have been tough to have got her off the phone after I had given her the news. My phone-bill would have been sky-high that night! For her not to be a part of all those things and to miss out on them is really sad. But I hope she is looking down and feeling really proud. Everything I am doing moving forward is with her in the forefront of my mind.”
A year later on Wales' summer tour to the Rainbow Nation in 2022, he spoke his mind and his personality shone through for South African fans to take him to heart.
A many-faceted man is the new Toulon No. 10, having joined the French giants midway through the season from Northampton. He endeared himself to the Toulon faithful by delivering a speech in French direct to thousands of supporters at his new home ground soon after joining.
He still plays with emotion. Without it, he wouldn't be Dan Biggar, a player who has stood the test of time. For Wales and every club he has played for, not to mention his family, he has been some asset.
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