Biggar: 'One of my best wins ever'
REACTION: Dan Biggar hailed Wales’ 20-17 win over Scotland in Cardiff on Saturday as one of the “best victories” of his career.
The Wales captain and flyhalf played the second half with an injury to his right knee in a match where he kicked four penalties and a match-clinching drop-goal 10 minutes from time.
It was a fine way for Biggar to mark his 100th Test appearance for Wales and the British and Irish Lions as the reigning Six Nations champions got back on the winning trail after last week’s 29-7 loss to Ireland in their tournament opener.
“This is one of the best victories I have had in a Welsh shirt,” Biggar said.
“We didn’t get it right last week, and when you don’t get it right – certainly in this country – you take a fair bit of flak for it.
“For me, a brilliant day. The family are here, my little boy was able to come out on the pitch afterwards. It doesn’t get a huge amount better than that.”
An intriguing contest was all square at 14-14 at half-time, with try by Wales prop Tomas Francis cancelling out an earlier score from Scotland wing Darcy Graham.
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‘Love the flak’
The 32-year-old Biggar, leading Wales for the second match in a row with regular skipper Alun Wyn Jones still injured, added: “We had taken a fair bit of flak, but for me, I absolutely love that.
“I would rather people were criticising me than praising me, because it brings out a different side of me and maybe more of a focus.”
Biggar, who labelled his knee injury “just a little niggle”, insisted there was no danger of complacency ahead of Wales’ match against England at Twickenham in two weeks’ time.
“It is really important we knuckle down and prepare for England as well as we can.”
Wales coach Wayne Pivac was proud of the way his side had turned things round.
“I’ve known these boys long enough now to know that wasn’t the Wales team that we know,” he said.
“There was a big improvement today.”
Although Scotland win at an empty stadium in Llanelli two years ago, they have lost 11 successive Tests against Wales in Cardiff – a run dating back 20 years. This reverse came after they arrived in the Welsh capital buoyed by a Calcutta Cup win over England.
“The obvious emotion in the changing room is disappointment,” said Scotland coach Gregor Townsend, whose team next face title-rivals France. “It’s going to be with the standards we set ourselves.
“You only get five games in the Six Nations, so it’s going to have a negative effect on your chances of winning the tournament.
“We gave penalties to the opposition so we did not control that second half.”
Scotland were reduced to 14 men late on when Finn Russell was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, having kicked the visitors into a 17-14 lead early in the second half.
“After we went ahead on the scoreboard we needed to kick on, and we weren’t able to do that,” said Townsend.
