Dan Biggar says his late mother will be at the forefront of his mind when he captains Wales for the first time in the 2022 Guinness Six Nations.
The Wales fly-half was named by Wayne Pivac as skipper for this year’s Championship in the absence of Alun Wyn Jones, who is currently sidelined with a shoulder injury.
He will lead his country out for the first time against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday February 5 as Wales begin the defence of the Championship title they won in 2021.
And the 32-year-old explained that the honour of captaining his side will be extra special after losing his mother and biggest supporter, Elizabeth Biggar, last year.
“Yeah, it’ll obviously be an immensely proud [moment],” he said.
“I’m very much, on matchday in particular, very focused. I don’t tend to deal too much with too much on the emotional side in terms of thinking about certain people.
“I’m very focused, I suppose, the job in hand which I don’t think will change a huge amount for me even with the captaincy tag anyway,
“I think it will be business as usual, maybe just one or two reining things in a little bit more and approaching things slightly different.
“My mum passed away six months ago so she’ll obviously be at the forefront of my mind as well.
“She would have been over the moon. I’d have struggled to get her off the phone I think after Wayne [Pivac] phoned me on Sunday night, explaining and asking questions and bits and pieces.
“She’d be a massive thought and I’m gutted that she won’t be around to see it but I’m hoping I can do her incredibly proud.”
Biggar has 95 caps to his name for Wales and could bring up his 100 milestone against Italy in the final round of this year’s Championship if he plays in all five games.
And the Northampton Saints out-half, who is also a two-time British & Irish Lions tourist with three caps, admitted that bringing up a century of caps has already crossed his mind.
“It would be impossible for me to say that it hasn’t crossed my mind when you’re potentially a campaign away from potentially reaching that milestone,” he said.
“I suppose it would be a huge day for me personally but the question I’m more interested in is how many more can I get than 100? I’m certainly not looking at 100 and out.
“I sat down with Wayne during the last camp in the autumn and said my intention is not to creep towards 100 caps, it’s about getting through to the next World Cup and excelling.
“If that was the case it would be a hugely proud day and a really special achievement as not many players who play for their country do it. I suppose there would be a little bit of vindication as well.
“It certainly hasn’t been all plain sailing during the 12 or 13 years I’ve been playing for Wales so it will be nice to do that personally and a slight bit of vindication to get there and prove I have done okay in this jersey over the years.”
