Cape Town - Dan Biggar has urged his Wales team to again not take a step back and “roll the carpet out for the Springboks” in Saturday’s series decider at the Cape Town Stadium (5.05pm kickoff).
Captain and flyhalf Biggar has recovered from a shoulder problem that forced him off in the second half of last week’s 13-12 win in Bloemfontein.
Gareth Anscombe replaced him and landed a crucial penalty and a match-winning touchline conversion at the Free State Stadium, but once Biggar came through Thursday’s practice unscathed, coach Wayne Pivac pencilled him in at No 10 once more.
The fighting talk from the 32-year-old pivot continued, having been in the faces of the world champions from the first Test at Loftus Versfeld.
There have been quite a few instances of pushing and shoving off the ball in the previous two Tests, with Biggar also getting involved by questioning the referee’s decisions at times.
And with all to play for at the Cape Town Stadium, he won’t let up this weekend. “There’s never any plan to do that! But it’s been great for us – I’ve really enjoyed that side of it, because that’s what Test-match rugby is about,” Biggar said at the team hotel on Thursday.
“We certainly didn’t want to come here and just lie down and roll the carpet out for the Springboks. That has been really good, and it’s just got us going a little bit as well – certainly not taking a step back, and backing down to the challenge.
“I’ve certainly enjoyed that side and enjoyed what the team have done in that sense, in terms of not giving an inch, really. I’d be disappointed if we’re any softer than we have been in the last couple of weeks on Saturday.
“We played at Cape Town Stadium last year (for the British and Irish Lions), and it was really soulless without a crowd. So hopefully a capacity crowd in, everything on the line – it will be a great occasion.”
Biggar added that he wasn’t expecting anything different from the Boks, despite coach Jacques Nienaber making 11 changes and reverting to most of the players that started in Pretoria two weeks ago.
But he admitted that the Welsh play a similar game and want to deny the South Africans opportunities inside their half.
He was part of the Lions side that was also involved in a series decider against the Boks at Cape Town Stadium last year, but he was reluctant to draw too much from that experience, which saw the hosts run out 19-16 victors in a tense encounter.
“We just want to give everything this week. It was a similar situation last year – last week of the season… it’s probably going to come down to small margins again on Saturday,” said Biggar, who has 102 Welsh Test caps.
“For us, it’s about being as disciplined and putting in an 80-minute performance. We’ve been really good in the first couple of Tests, and we haven’t given the Springboks too many cheap points or cheap entries.
“We are hoping that if we are as clinical as we have been over the last couple of weeks, then we are going to be right in with a shout.
“We feel like we’ve been fairly comfortable in terms of what they’ve thrown at us, but ultimately when they turn the power on and you spend a lot of time in your own half against this team, you are going to get punished.
“So, it’s about making sure we keep the ball on the park as much as we can. We must nullify their lineout game, which comes down to discipline. We must keep penalties to anything under 10, then you’re in with a real shout of winning the game.
“We have put a huge amount into this tour, in terms of the amount of training we’ve done, the amount of sacrifices we’ve made. We’ve worked our absolute socks off, so it would be brilliant to get a full reward at the end of Saturday.”
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