‘You have to roll your sleeves up’: Biggar says character counts against England

Dan Biggar during training at Twickenham. Photograph: Ben Evans/Huw Evans/Shutterstock

With his team huddled around him in the dressing room of Cardiff’s National Stadium, Wales’ captain Phil Bennett delivered a speech that has gone down in rugby folklore. Stoking the fires of Welsh pride and pressing the pressure point of national insecurity, he called on his fellow patriots to perform their civic duty and teach their better resourced neighbours a lesson.

This rousing call worked. With their blood sufficiently heated, Wales won the match – contested on 5 March 1977 – 14-9. On Saturday, another captain wearing a red jersey with 10 on his back will be tasked with motivating his charges before facing their fiercest foes.