Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Dan Biggar responds to Toulon president's comments over imminent exit

Dan Biggar of RC Toulon leaves the field for a Head Injury Assessment during the EPCR Challenge Cup Final between Glasgow Warriors and RC Toulon at Aviva Stadium on May 19, 2023 in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Toulon fly-half Dan Biggar has said that he “can’t imagine any other outcome” other than playing at the Stade Mayol next season after the club’s president Bernard Lemaitre recently hinted that he may not see out his contract.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Welsh centurion, 34, has another year left on his contract, but an ongoing back issue since November has hurt both his playing time and form. With that in mind, Lamaitre raised the notion during an interview in March of ending his contract a year early.

He said: “Since his back injury, Dan has struggled to come back. He is better, but has not returned to his best level. Not even last year’s. It’s difficult for a champion of this size. He still wants to play, to complete his contract. We will see in the coming months.”

Video Spacer

Nizaam Carr on how to play Saints

Video Spacer

Nizaam Carr on how to play Saints

The former Wales captain responded to those comments recently when talking to French publication var-martin, downplaying any exit rumours and assuring that “everything is fine”.

“Lots of people said to me: ‘Did you see what the president said about you?'” he said.

Fixture
Top 14
Toulon
20 - 19
Full-time
Toulouse
All Stats and Data

“He’s in his role, it doesn’t matter. I’ve been playing at a high level for 16 years, I’m used to it. Pierre [Mignoni] called me to see how I was doing. But I’m fine! There is no problem.

“Here, everything is different so that speaks a lot. I will be there next year! I can’t imagine any other outcome. I want to win for this club and its supporters because I love living here, playing in Toulon and coming to the Campus every day.”

Unfortunately for Biggar, the clip of him collapsing to the floor in pain while taking a place kick went viral last year. The former Ospreys and Northampton Saints No10 explained that the injury was the byproduct of an intense 2023 schedule.

ADVERTISEMENT

“After the World Cup, it was difficult,” he said.

“There wasn’t a day I felt good.

“After Wales were eliminated in the quarter-finals, I took a week off and started again with the RCT. However, it was a little too early. If I could have taken a few more days to breathe more, it would have been better.

“In one year, I completed the start of the season with Northampton, my transfer to Toulon and the Top 14 season, the Six Nations Tournament, summer preparation then the World Cup.

“This is unusual for me. I paid the bill in Perpignan at the beginning of November.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Biggar looks to have put his injury issues to bed for the time being, and started in Toulon’s last outing- a 46-10 win over Bayonne in the Top 14. They have another weekend’s break before hosting giants Toulouse on April 20.

Related

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

H
Hellhound 31 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

1 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones
Search