Salary cap hurting, not helping – Biggar

By BEN JAYCOCK

Dan Biggar feels the Premiership's exodus of players to France is a result of the league's reduced salary cap ‘hurting it more than helping'.

The 33-year-old fly-half joined Top 14 side Toulon from Northampton in November. His replacement in the 10 jersey, Fin Smith has excelled in the former Wales captain's absence with the 20-year-old guiding Saints to the Premiership play-offs.

BT Sport cameras captured Biggar offering words of encouragement post-match in 2021 after a Worcester-Northampton match, in an experience Smith, below, described as ‘really cool'.

The pair united earlier this season following Worcester's financial demise. Since leaving, Biggar has enjoyed watching Smith's rise from afar and still keeps tabs on his former side.

Biggar told The Rugby Paper: “I've been watching all the games since I've left and the last couple of weeks they've put together some good performances.

“I had four and a half brilliant years there, made some great friends and I would like nothing more than for them to be successful. I keep in touch with a lot of the boys and have spoken to a lot of the coaches.

“It was a huge part of my career and for the duration that I'm out here, it's always the first result I look for on a Saturday afternoon when I come back in the changing rooms, or if a game is on TV I'll watch it.

“Fin's been excellent. For a young 10 coming through he's in exactly the right place in terms of playing under Sam Vesty.

Saints fan: Dan Biggar playing for Toulon

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As a 30-year-old going to Northampton, I felt like I was 18/19 learning off him every day. For someone like Fin at that age coming in quite young and inexperienced it's going to be brilliant to work with Sam and he's slotted in nicely.

“He's been really solid and has made the team tick after a turbulent few months with what happened with Worcester. They've got plenty of quality in the 10 jersey with James Grayson sat behind him, who I also rate extremely highly.”

Biggar has played 14 times for Toulon, kicking 95 points, and has helped guide his side to the Challenge Cup final next weekend. The 106-cap Wales star has revelled in the south of France's rugby heartland.

“What you have here is huge crowds every single week, big benefactors and owners who can supply huge training bases,” said Biggar. “France is such a big country, so it's not like you're playing teams an hour down the road. We played Lyon a few weeks ago and there were 22,000 there.

“It's not just the game, you rock up two hours before and the place is absolutely jumping, packed full of supporters in the fan village, hospitality or the bars beforehand. It's a colourful experience, everyone wears their jerseys and the passion for rugby here is second to none.”

Biggar says the Premiership is different now compared to when he joined the league in 2018 from the Ospreys, with the lack of finances miles behind where it should be.

The salary cap being reduced to £5 million from £7m in 2021 has resulted in a number of high profile names like Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jack Nowell and Sam Simmonds set to play in France, with players in some cases doubling or even tripling their current salaries.

Biggar said: “From my experience, Franklin's Gardens is one of the best places to play with big crowds there every week but there's no doubt about it, the Premiership is struggling. The salary cap is hurting them as much as it's helping them in terms of losing players and being restricted to what they can spend on attracting players.”

Despite a huge rise in English players playing in France, Biggar stresses that it's not easy for foreign players to play due to the Top 14's JIFF rule.

He added: “The JIFF rule is a challenge as it means you have to have a certain amount of French players in your squad throughout the course of the year. So, it's not as easy as wanting to come over to earn a bit more or coming over easily if you're out of contract but it's a brilliant occasion every week and fans here are crazy for rugby.”