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Dan Biggar's surprise pick as the most indispensable 2025 Lions player
By Jon Newcombe
Dan Biggar believes the British and Irish Lions squad to tour Australia this summer is full of X-factor players, but one, more than any other, he feels will be worth his weight in gold to Andy Farrell.
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Biggar is ‘thrilled to bits’ that 20-year-old Henry Pollock’s form and exuberance have been rewarded with a place in the squad, despite the Northampton man only having one cap to his name. But it’s another back-row player that the former Lions and Wales fly-half cited as being the key man Down Under.
Talking to the Rugby Pod, Biggar, a two-time tourist, highlighted Jack Conan as the specialist point of difference in a back row full of mix-and-match players who can alternate between positions.
“There’s not a huge amount of actual back-rowers, which is why I think he has gone for a (Tadhg) Beirne and a (Ollie) Chessum,” he said.
“Aside from Conan, they are all quite similar in terms of your Tom Curry, Ben Earl, Jac Morgan. (Henry) Pollock and (Josh) van der Flier – they are all quite hybridy in terms of they’re all dynamic, good over the ball, explosive.
“If you are playing South Africa, the make-up of your back-row is different. But I think Jack Conan’s job becomes even more important, he almost becomes one of the most important players because he has to be in the team basically for his ball carrying.
“You have got the flyers around him, the guys in the row who’ll do the work, but he becomes really important now in terms of that focal point – a little bit like what England have had with (Billy) Vunipola and Wales and the Lions have had with (Taulupe) Faletau.
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“Let’s not forget Jack Conan started all three Tests four years ago, so he knows what’s required in big matches and on Lions tours.”
Meanwhile, Biggar, who started all three Tests in South Africa in 2021, feels that Farrell has compensated for the lack of back-row ball-carrying options by choosing front-row players who take the ball over the gain line.
“The way that’s made that back row up has probably been helped by his selection in the front row. (Ellis) Genge, (Andrew) Porter, (Pierre) Schoeman are all effectively back-rowers in open play, along with your (Zander) Fagerson, (Tadgh) Furlong and (Will) Stuart, along with (Ronan) Kelleher, (Luke) Cowan-Dickie, (Dan) Sheehan. In open play, all nine of those can play back row in open play in terms of your carrying, your jackaling, your work-rate etc.
“So I think that’s why he has maybe been allowed a bit more flexibility to go and get some fetchers and some young explosive, energetic, athletic back rows, as opposed to if you were maybe playing a South Africa.”
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Biggar is fast becoming one of the best pundits around. Who’d have thought!