Wales veteran opens up on role change in France

PREVIEW: Wales flyhalf Dan Biggar said he accepts he has a different role to play at Toulon this season before they host Vannes in the French Top 14 on Saturday.

Biggar, who turns 35 in mid-October, is in the final year of his deal on the French Riviera and now shares the playmaking role at Stade Mayol with Italy’s Paolo Garbisi and uncapped French flyhalf Enzo Herve.

The former Ospreys pivot suffers from strict rules in place by the French league on the number of players who have come through French academies, or Joueurs Issus des Filieres de Formation (JIFF), such as Montpellier product Garbisi and Herve.

Since joining the three-time Champions Cup winners in November 2022, Biggar has started 21 of his 30 appearances but has only played one of their three games so far this season.

“It’s a little bit different as I know I’m coming into the last year of my contract, being 35 and things,” Biggar told AFP this week.

“I’m still loving it, being around the boys every day.

“The JIFF situation isn’t easy, I know I can’t play every week,” he added.

Biggar has had a glittering career including Six Nations Grand Slam success, appearing at three World Cups and on two British and Irish Lions tours.

His deal at Toulon is up at the end of the season and he jokingly said a move to second-tier Provence, an hour’s drive away, could be on the cards alongside fellow Wales internationals in George North and Tomas Francis.

“We could create a Welsh resurgence there,” Biggar said lightheartedly.

“The family love the life here and we’ll see what happens then.”

Flyhalf options

Biggar, who releases his autobiography this week, retired from Test rugby after the 2023 World Cup, having won 112 caps.

Wales coach Warren Gatland is yet to settle on a replacement for Biggar, who spent more than a decade sharing the No.10 shirt with Gareth Anscombe.

Gloucester’s Anscombe has suffered from injury issues throughout his career with Sam Costelow, Ben Thomas, Jacob Beetham and Callum Sheedy among the contenders.

In November, Gatland will aim to avoid a record 10th straight Test defeat.

“There’s loads of talent there but, as I learnt very quickly and harshly in that No.10 shirt, the only way you improve and put your stamp on it is by playing in that shirt,” Biggar said.

“You’ve got a lot of players with potential but not many who have been there and done it in that environment.

“That’s why I think they’d love to have Gareth around,” Biggar added.

This weekend, Biggar’s Toulon welcome promoted Vannes, who claimed their first ever Top 14 win last Saturday against Lyon.

“The way they played, the spirit they had and quality for a team that just came up from ProD2, small little port town, I thought they were really good,” Biggar said.

“Anybody who thought they could be taken lightly beforehand will soon be changing their mind after their performances in the first couple of weeks.”

Elsewhere, the blockbuster tie is a re-run of June’s final as champions Toulouse host Bordeaux-Begles after they hammered them 59-3 in last season’s decider.

French rugby’s superstar Antoine Dupont is only expected back for Toulouse in mid-October after the Olympics success.

He met up with basketball great Lebron James this week while on holiday in Los Angeles and is set to watch the Chargers play NFL champions the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in California.

Dupont’s stand-in with France, Racing 92’s Nolann Le Garrec, faces his future employers as La Rochelle head to the French capital.

Fixtures:

Saturday:

Perpignan v Clermont
Bayonne v Montpellier
Lyon v Castres
Racing 92 v La Rochelle
Toulon v Vannes
Pau v Stade Francais

Sunday:

Toulouse v Bordeaux-Begles