DAN BIGGAR: How my 100th cap for Wales turned into a nightmare

In 2022 I captained Wales for my 100th cap against Italy in Cardiff.

Alun Wyn Jones made his 150th Test appearance for his country on the same day. It was supposed to be a party. It turned into a nightmare.

Looking back now, too much attention has been paid to mine and Alun Wyn’s milestone games. I’m not sure we were as focused as we should have been on the task at hand.

We paid the price. Italy fully deserved to win.

Two years later they arrive at the Principality Stadium again with much focus on George North after he announced it would be his last game.

George will retire from international rugby after the match. Both George and Warren Gatland have already said they do not want his departure to distract from the job ahead.

That was a good message because as soon as I heard about George’s retirement, I wondered if the news would cause the team to lose focus.

George has truly been an incredible player for Wales, one of the best in the country’s history. I was lucky to play alongside him for so long and admired what he could do.

All I had to do was give him the ball and then I could sit back and watch!

I wish him all the best in his last match.

But I hope this Wales team doesn’t make the same mistakes they made in 2022. They have to beat Italy.

If they don’t, Wales will finish bottom of the Six Nations table for the first time since 2003.

That would be very difficult for anyone in Welsh rugby.

The last time they were in Cardiff, Italy sent the Wales team I led to a humiliating one-point defeat. Paolo Garbisi’s conversion of Edoardo Padovani’s effort with the last kick of the match secured a famous Azzurri victory. It was a very low point in my career. Paolo was my counterpart. We both got drunk in Cardiff that night, but for very different reasons!

Paolo and I won’t be facing each other this weekend, but we are now teammates in Toulon and it was great to catch up with him this week to look ahead to ‘Super Saturday’.

I had to remind him how helpful I was to him and his team during my 100th cap!

“We knew in the week it was your 100th and Alun Wyn’s 150th. Our mood was to try to have our own party. We knew it was a big event for you,” Paolo told me, looking back on 2022.

‘Two years ago we had not won 36 games in the Championship in seven years. That’s why it was so special. And we had never won in Cardiff before!

‘We are happy to be there again. I know the people there will be 100 percent behind Wales. To be honest, I didn’t want George to announce his retirement because the Welsh boys will be even more motivated now. We have to take this into account and not be surprised at the start of the game by the pace, physicality and intensity that Wales will put into it.

‘George is an incredible player. This is evident from everything he has done over the past ten years. I hope we can defend him well. It’s going to be a crazy, crazy atmosphere.

“If we can control our emotions, we have a chance.”

Wales have lost all four of their games so far this year. When you’re running like that, the pressure builds up. And Italy will be full of confidence. I thought they were impressive in their win over Scotland last weekend. There is a better balance in their play under new coach Gonzalo Quesada.

“I saw you interviewed Siya Kolisi and Jonny Wilkinson,” Paolo said.

‘What am I doing here?! Obviously we are very happy with what happened last weekend. It was different from Cardiff in 2022 – two different kinds of joy.

‘I think we deserved the win. It was the first time in ten years that we played at home in front of a sold-out stadium. Now we’re going straight back to work. It will be a tough challenge with Wales.

‘We have to move on to the next match quickly and concentrate, otherwise we will get excited! If we manage to win in Cardiff, which I certainly hope, it would be the best Six Nations ever for us. We have had two wins in the past, but not two wins and a draw.

‘It would be big for the supporters. Winning helps grow interest in rugby in Italy. It’s something we need. We’re not as popular as I think we should or could be.

‘Hopefully we can continue to do good things. We drew against France and beat Scotland. It showed that we can perform at a decent level, so there’s no reason why we can’t do it again.

‘Otherwise we’re just a losing team. We have to find consistency.”

There is a wonderful underground nightclub in Rome called Art Café. I’ve celebrated a few Wales wins there myself! Paolo won’t confirm or deny whether the boys from Italy went there last weekend after beating Scotland, but I think I know the answer! In my opinion, Italy looks dangerous.

Last year they probably attacked too much and in the wrong places in the field. But Quesada seems to have brought more pragmatism to their game. As number 10, Paolo executes their game plan.

“Last year we were known a lot for our offensive capabilities,” he told me. ‘But our problem was that we overplayed too often. What has changed the most for us is that we have been able to find a balance between knowing when to play and when to kick. At this level the kicking game is extremely important, as you know Dan. Of course we have to get better, but we are on the right track.’

Two years ago the sun was shining for Italy in Cardiff and the roof of the Principality Stadium was open. It was the best weather we had had in Wales in March in years!

But my mood was somber when the final whistle blew. I’ll never forget the raw emotion on Paolo’s face when he scored the winning kick.

As they struggled to win, people questioned Italy’s place in the Six Nations. This year they put that to bed. Italian rugby seems to have a good plan.

Their Under-20 team is doing well. Even Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was in the team dressing rooms to celebrate Scotland’s victory!

“It’s crazy how things changed so quickly after the World Cup,” Paolo said. ‘At the World Cup it was so, so tough. In the last two games we conceded 156 points.

‘To be where we are today is a big change. The mistake we made over the last ten to fifteen years is that we were happy with just one win or coming close to other teams.

‘We have to keep raising the bar and get better. We can’t be happy if we only win one game.’

Paolo hasn’t had an easy time in his last two games. He has seen the ball fall off his kick-tee against both France and Scotland and then had to rush towards goal. As a kicker, I know this is a nightmare scenario. If his kick against France had not hit the post, Italy would have achieved another famous victory.

“When it happened again against Scotland, people asked me why I was laughing,” Paolo said.

‘What else was I supposed to do? It was like someone blew the ball off my tee on purpose!

‘I honestly couldn’t believe it. I’ll be asking for the Cardiff roof to be closed for my kick tee! For as long as I can remember, Wales have always shown team spirit and fighting spirit. It’s unbelievable.

“Their game against Scotland – honestly, no team in the world could have done something like that. Wales never lets you go. That is something to admire. It’s going to be very tough for us.’

Paolo and I have already trained and kicked together in Toulon, so I have seen how good he is. I’ll have to get used to collecting balls for him and being his substitute!

But it’s great to have him with us and hopefully we can share great memories together. The coffee is for me for him during this interview!

I hope he does well against Wales, but my old team wins. If it’s another Italian victory, I’m sure they’ll celebrate hard, even if Paolo might find his lockers in the car park when he gets back to Toulon! There is no Art Café in Cardiff for the Italian players to go to. Tiger Tiger was our nightclub when we won Grand Slams.

I’m not sure where the kids go these days!

“A few people asked me why I went to Toulon when you were already there,” Paolo told me.

‘That’s exactly why I am! It was the same reason I went to Montpellier when Handre Pollard was there. I am very excited. You had over 100 caps for Wales and two Lions tours.

‘My mantra is to be an open book. The TOP14 is a long season. It can only be positive.’