Dan Biggar has revealed how the Wales team have been boosted by a special message from Olympic champion Usain Bolt ahead of Saturday’s Six Nations showdown with Ireland in Dublin.
Jamaican sprint superstar Bolt was the surprise celebrity who announced the winner of a special prize which is awarded inside the Welsh camp.
That’s the Bobby Cup, which is the brainchild of larger-than-life strength and conditioning coach Paul “Bobby” Stridgeon.
It is only awarded after Wales win two consecutive games and goes to the most hard-working player.
This time it went to flanker Taine Basham, who had such a fine autumn campaign, and it was a moment to remember for the Dragons openside.
New skipper Biggar, who actually met Bolt and had dinner with him at a Manchester United football match last year, takes up the story.
“Whenever we win two games in a row, Paul does a bit of a funny video, taking the mick out of the lads and presents the Bobby Cup to the player of the match from the previous game.
“Every time it’s presented, he always gets a celebrity to announce who the winner of the cup is.
“So we had Usain Bolt on Monday night, which was a bit of thrill for the lads.
“He did a pre-recorded message for Taine Basham who was the winner of it.
“So Taine has had a good confidence-building week and hopefully he can carry that on Saturday afternoon.”
The 32-year-old Biggar quipped: “The Bobby Cup is one of the main reasons I’m still playing international rugby!
“It’s the pinnacle of your rugby career winning that.”
He added: “It’s such a huge build-up to the week with training, media, and the hype around the tournament, so it’s been really nice to have a few distractions around the place like that.
“It’s a really good group and we can get away, switch off, and take the mick out of each other quite easily.
“Everyone is getting a bit fed up of being in a bubble and not being able to go home after training on a Tuesday, but we’ve really made the most of our time together.
“There has been a lot of coffee drunk on days off and the boys are in really good spirits, there is no doubt about that.”
Fly-half Biggar will become the 140th man to captain Wales when he leads them out at the Aviva Stadium.
On how he will interact with referees as skipper, he said: “I’ve been asked this a million times this week and I’ve answered it a million different ways.
“I don’t know what people want me to say, really.
“It’s a challenge, but having the ability to be able to speak to the referees will help. There is a role that comes with being captain - again, don’t worry too much about it, but aware that there is a responsibility with it as well.”
Biggar also talked about how Lions Test wing Josh Adams has been slotting into his new role at outside centre.
“Josh has been great, actually, in terms of how he’s adapted,” he said.
“First and foremost, he’s a brilliant athlete, so even though he’s moving slightly, one position in, he’s slotted in really well.
“One thing Josh isn’t short of is confidence and belief in himself, so that’s a great starting point for us. We are going to look to get him on the ball as much as we can.
“The bottom line for us is we want to make sure we take the game to Ireland.
“That means making sure we get our most potent runners in the game. Getting people like Josh, Liam [Williams], Louis [Rees-Zammit], and boys like that involved as much as we can is going to be key for us.
“With the two sevens we are obviously going to have to be good in that contact area. If we can nick some ball in that area then that gives us a good chance as well.
“We are definitely going there with ‘let's take it to them’ as opposed to soaking it up, but the biggest thing against Ireland is if you don’t win the physicality battle then it’s going to be a really difficult afternoon.
“That’s been a huge focus for us all week with whatever number you’ve got on your back.
“Another big part of the game when you play Ireland is the kicking game and controlling territory because they’ve got some of the best players in the world at doing that.
“The conditions will be a factor with it being quite wet and windy by the looks of it, but again it gives us an opportunity to get on the front foot, show that we can get on top defensively and match them physically.
“Those conditions are going to play into who controls territory, who controls long phases of play for large periods which is going to be so crucial.”
He added: “For us to come on the right side of the result, or to certainly making it a bit easier for ourselves, we have to make sure we start well, ruffle a few feathers early doors, stop the crowd from getting onside and giving them a big start.
“We need to make sure we’re absolutely clear, that our basics are really good, nothing suicidal, that we’re really smart and start the game well.
“It’s exciting, great for us to go out and test ourselves against the form team in the northern hemisphere at the minute in terms of the autumn they had.
“We are really looking forward to it and really excited to go and try and get on the front foot.
"We have huge amounts of respect for Ireland and how well they’re playing, how good their form is club wise and internationally. But we don’t want to go there and stand off and be intimidated. We want to go out and get stuck in from word 'go'.”
On Wales' underdog status, he concluded: “As I have said all week, we always start as fourth or fifth favourites.
“Every year we come into the Six Nations behind the big three, and I think Scotland are ahead of us with the bookies this week.
“It has been the same for the last 10 years. But I think people forget as well, the last 10 years we have been the most successful team in it, winning it four times, with Ireland and England winning it three times.
“It is no issue for us, it is absolutely no different for us coming into the tournament as underdogs. Whether we’ve won it the last year, whether we have got a full-strength team, half a team missing, whatever it is, it’s always the same.
“We are just looking forward to the challenge of going out there and trying to get into a real arm-wrestle with Ireland, because that’s what it is when you play them - you have to match them physically. If you don’t, then you are in a bit of trouble.”
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