Dan Biggar urges World Rugby to take action after slamming ‘devalued’ England v Wallabies clash
Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt and Wales legend Dan Biggar.
Dan Biggar believes that World Rugby ranking points should not be awarded for matches that fall outside the international window.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s game between England and the Wallabies, the Wales legend pointed to the fact that Australia will be without some key players.
That is because the match is not during World Rugby’s designated Test window.
English-based Aussies ruled out
As a result, Joe Schmidt will be without the Australians who ply their trade in England, with Len Ikitau, Tom Hooper and James O’Connor all absent.
In contrast, Steve Borthwick has full access to his players due to the RFU’s agreement with the Gallagher PREM and its clubs.
England are hampered by a lack of preparation time, while Australia are coming off the back of the Rugby Championship and a warm-up Test against Japan, but Biggar still believes that the tourists are being disadvantaged and has suggested a change.
“Even on the back of a short preparation period, England should win. They are the better team. Australia are more battle hardened on the back of the Rugby Championship and I do expect them to trouble England,” he wrote in his Daily Mail column.
“But the Wallabies being without key men is a real shame and to me, devalues the match slightly. I don’t understand why this game, even though it takes place outside of World Rugby’s match window, still contributes to ranking points.
“That means it will influence the draw for the 2027 World Cup which takes place at the end of this campaign, which doesn’t make sense to me at all.
“Even if Australia were fully loaded, I’d still expect England to win, however.”
Biggar’s view on England 10 battle
England have already named their team for Saturday’s clash against the Wallabies, with head coach Steve Borthwick making several interesting calls.
That includes picking Tommy Freeman at centre and putting six of their British and Irish Lions tourists on the bench.
One of them is fly-half Fin Smith, as Borthwick rewards George Ford for his performances against Argentina in July.
Biggar states that he would have selected Northampton Saints star Smith, but knows that centurion Ford will certainly not let England down.
“If I were in Borthwick’s shoes, I’d have picked Fin Smith. Borthwick seemed to nail his colours to the mast when he replaced Marcus Smith with his namesake for the Six Nations. Fin Smith went really well, England won four games, and he was picked for the Lions tour on the back of it,” he added.
“It feels like Fin has almost lost out a bit by going away with the Lions, because he surrendered his England position to Ford in the summer as a result and did not feature in any of the Lions Tests.
“While I feel for Fin, make no mistake Ford is world-class. He’s playing at the top of his game right now.
“I played against Ford so many times. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that some of England’s most successful periods have come with him at No 10. Their Six Nations title wins in 2016, 2017 and 2020 and run to the 2019 World Cup final are good examples of this.”
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