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Dan Biggar reveals what he told Owen Farrell: 'He made it personal'
By Ian Cameron
Wales standoff Dan Biggar has Dan Biggar revealed what he told Owen Farrell in the 'heat of the moment' amidst the card-flying chaos in Twickenham during his side's clash with England.
Six cards were doled out by referee Nika Amashukeli in what was drama filled if scrappy Rugby World Cup warm-up. Most notable among them was a red card for Farrell, which now threatens to limit his participation in the pool stages of the competition.
Biggar and Farrell could be seen getting into it after the Englishman's reckless challenge on Taine Basham, which ultimately lead to him being permanently sent from the field after a bunker review upgraded it to a red eight minutes later.
Biggar has revealed what he said to his British & Irish Lions teammate in his Daily Mail column:
"I’ve got no issue with Owen – we’ve been team-mates with the Lions – but he made it personal by coming at me in the second half at Twickenham," wrote Biggar. " ‘Stop complaining,’ was what Farrell said in my direction, just after he’d hit Taine Basham high. I thought it was a clear red card and was just airing my view.
"I told Farrell that people are allowed to have a go at him. He’s not above everyone else. Owen is such a competitive guy, just like I am, and it was a heat-of-the-moment incident."
However, Biggar said the World Cup in France would 'be poorer' if Farrell - who he 'really likes' - is forced to spend time on the sidelines due to the likelihood of his receiving a ban.
Biggar also refused to write England off as Rugby World Cup 'challengers'.
"Are England World Cup challengers? It’s hard to say after two games but they’ve been under the radar. You’d say they’ve got a bit of work to do, similar to ourselves, to be chucked out as challengers right now. But if you ask me that in four weeks, it could be a completely different answer."
Farrell will face a Six Nations disciplinary hearing on Tuesday. The mid-range sanction for a dangerous tackle is six games and given he received a three-match ban for the same offence in January, on top of five matches in 2020 and two in 2016, it is doubtful he will be treated leniently by the disciplinary process.
Fixtures against Ireland and Fiji complete England’s warm-up schedule for the World Cup before their group campaign is launched with a pivotal group clash with Argentina in Marseille on September 9. Steve Borthwick now faces the likely prospect of being without his skipper and talisman for the toughest opponents in Pool D, while his participation against Japan, Chile and Samoa are also in question.
You can read the full column HERE.
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Latest Comments
Dont know if the Irish players said it or not, but lets all be honest with ourselves, and hopefully both the Irish and French have healed by now, the Media did jump the gun, be realistic, according to 90% of the media it was a France and Ireland final, and the media had 1 of them winning the world cup, not even mentioning the All blacks? Just remember world cups are different, Australia was not the most in form cricket tean in the last cricket world cup, but they have a nack of winning when it matters. I wont go into whether what Etzabeth is saying is true, all I am saying is that its very easy for a team to get ahead of themselves due to the media. Nothing wrong with it, the media got the springboks over confident against England and we nearly lost that one.
Go to commentsHey Finn, Well done to the Junior Wallabies…a win is a win but it was a wet and scrappy game. Would be interesting to hear your opinion on two things from watching the game at the Not So Sunny Coast Stadium. Firstly, what is your opinion on the rule change of being able to call The Mark from a kick off and what is the reason for the change? Secondly, your thoughts on the lack of action for the high tackle on the SA fullback. I understand the TMO ruled that he had fallen into the tackle and the tackler didn’t have time to adjust but it was clearly shoulder on head and the Aussie 11 had not made any attempt to adjust his tackle height leading into the tackle. In my opinion he was never going to get his tackle technique correct to complete a safe tackle. If that tackle was made at a more senior and more scrutinised level would we have seen the same result?
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