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Wales' Dan Biggar hits back at critic in live post-match TV interview
By Liam Heagney
Man of the match Dan Biggar used his post-match TV interview in Cardiff to hit back at JJ Williams, the former Lions winger who claimed Wales will not win the World Cup with the Northampton player playing at out-half.
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Biggar was thrust back into the Wales No10 jersey for Saturday’s match against England following the World Cup-ending injury suffered last Sunday by Gareth Anscombe.
His return to the starting line-up was criticised by Williams, who suggested Wales need to be starting Jarrod Evans in Anscombe’s absence if they are to conquer the world next month in Japan.
However, Biggar used a TV interview on Channel 4 to take his critic to task following Wales’ deserved 13-6 win over England, a victory in which the out-half was pivotal in the creation of the game’s only try scored on 34 minutes by George North.
“Obviously delighted to get the win,” said Biggar before receiving his man of the match award. “We are all full aware we probably didn’t front up enough last week.
"Thanks to JJ Williams for the extra motivation" @WelshRugbyUnion.answered their critics with victory over @EnglandRugby, says man-of-the-match Dan Biggar#C4rugby #WALvENG pic.twitter.com/3VtFbalZOf
— Channel 4 Sport (@C4Sport) August 17, 2019
“It was a just a huge defensive effort today. We played some good stuff. We probably could have been a little more ahead in the first half but really pleasing to get over the line and dig it out as we have over the years. And special thanks to JJ Williams for all his comments this week. It has been really motivating.”
Wales’ seven-point win just six days after losing 19-33 to England at Twickenham – a loss that ended a record 14-match winning streak – was enough to shunt them above New Zealand in the World Rugby rankings and become the No1 team following this weekend’s action.
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Follow all the action and stats from Wales v England anywhere in the world in our live blog #WALvENG https://t.co/hvTXnxvpwk
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 17, 2019
“We probably got a little caught up in that last weekend with the winning run, the world No1 and all that,” said Biggar.
“What we want to do is we want to keep going about our business. We have worked hard for each other today. We have ground out a win, a huge defensive effort, and we’re looking to get better.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1RQ5n0Iecw/
“Obviously, it is nice to be where we are. Hopefully, we can continue our good run, but it was a huge effort from the lads today and a massive effort.
“The forwards were brilliant all day. England’s strengths are obviously set-piece, driving lineouts and to front up as we did, to keep a world-class team like England try-less, is a pretty special effort.
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Dan Biggar, take a bow!
Quick thinking + perfect execution = TRY for Wales' @George_North!#C4rugby #WALvENG pic.twitter.com/JrCiVAkwHm
— Channel 4 Sport (@C4Sport) August 17, 2019
“Plenty to work on but we go to Turkey now on the back of a win and have a tough week there before hopefully getting better for the two Ireland games.”
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