Dan Biggar’s wife Alex had something of a dilemma on Sunday.
Her husband’s side Wales were down 19-10 at half-time to France in their quarter-final and staring a World Cup exit in the face.
But her confidence never wavered, nor did Wales’, and she pulled the trigger to book flights out to Japan for the final two weeks of the tournament
Her husband was one of the key protagonists in Warren Gatland’s side second-half turnaround, as was the red card for Sebastien Vahaamahina it must be said.
But that means Wales are in the semi-finals, Biggar will be reunited with his wife and young son this week in the Far East, and something special might just be brewing.
“I’m massively looking forward to it. It’s cost me a few quid, flying the wife and little one over now, that’s the only downside of it! It’ll be great to have them out here, the little boy and my wife,” he said.
“Ultimately that’s the most important thing, that’s why a lot of us are doing this, the sacrifices they are making. A few quid down the drain, but that’s ok.
“I think she actually booked them at half-time with a cancellation policy, and it wasn’t looking great at half-time! It could have been even worse.
“It’s really pleasing that we are here for another two weeks, and hopefully we have two games to potentially change the rest of our lives.
“It’s really exciting, and we just feel in a really good spot after a scrappy performance, but there was lots of character shown.”
Gatland’s side do have the feel of a team of destiny.
Grand Slam champions in this year’s Guinness Six Nations, they came back from the dead to down France in their Championship opener.
And they repeated the trick in Oita, Ross Moriarty’s late try setting up a match-winning conversion for Biggar that keeps Gatland’s fairytale farewell on track.
“We have to count ourselves a bit lucky, but if you want my honest opinion I couldn’t care less,” he added.
“We are in a World Cup semi-final and have played some good rugby in this tournament so far.
“The France game was not one of those days but a lot of teams wouldn’t have the character and desire we have to find a way.
“That’s what’s important. You get no points for style, no bonus points at this stage of the tournament. It’s about scoring more points than the opposition, and that’s something we did – just about!”
And it will be that fearless spirit that carries Biggar and his teammates into a semi-final against the Springboks this weekend in Yokohama.
Wales have beaten the Boks the last four times they have met, a run that stretches back to the quarter-final at Twickenham four years ago.
And for Biggar – who has overcome two head injuries already this World Cup – it is the grit and gravitas of this Wales side that gives them a shot at history.
He added: “When you get to a semi-final you probably think that on your day, any one of four teams can win in it then. We watched and the All Blacks in particular were pretty exceptional, they are going to be right up there with the favourites.
“But we are happy to keep under the radar and go about our work quite quietly and go from there. The motivation is there for the team and individuals.
“There certainly won’t be any lack of motivation heading into the next couple of weeks. We are eighty minutes from getting into the World Cup final.
“We’ve trained incredibly hard for moments like this.
“The coaches know they are lucky they have a squad of players here who will dig as deep as anyone in the tournament.
“Looking at the quality of the rugby in the other quarter-finals on Saturday we were certainly below that, but what we have in abundance and as much as anybody is a desire and a fight not to give in.
“That’s something that can’t be trained.”
