Dan Biggar: Fly-half targets Northampton title and 100 Wales caps

Fly-half Dan Biggar has targeted winning the Premiership with Northampton and moving towards achieving 100 caps for Wales in the next 12 months.

Throw in a second British and Irish Lions tour and Biggar will be a happy man.

The 30-year-old has tied down his long-term future with Northampton, where he is also among the squad who have accepted a 12.5% pay cut.

Now as Northampton return to more concerted training with a playing return next month, Biggar has outlined his future goals.

English teams will have two opportunities to win the league title in the next 12 months.

Premiership Rugby aims to restart the season in mid-August with the final in late October and the 2020-21 campaign starting soon after that conclusion, with that final scheduled for 26 June.

English clubs were allowed to move to close contact training from 6 July after sides returned to socially-distanced training on 2 June after the league was halted because of Covid-19 in March.

Wales fly-half Dan Biggar has scored 284 points in 32 matches for Northampton since joining the English club from Ospreys for the start of the 2018-19 season

Northampton are 10 points off leaders Exeter, who they also face in the Champions Cup quarter-finals due to be played in mid-September.

"I would love if we could deliver a Premiership trophy for this club," said Biggar.

"It would be a reward to how well we have handled the pay cut system and how well we are looked after here.

"The brand of rugby we are trying to play is the right way to play and if we can deliver a Premiership trophy this year or next year, it would be a great achievement for the club. For me personally, it would be right at the top of my list."

Premiership Rugby has proposed some midweek games as clubs try finishing the season which has nine rounds of regular-season games and two rounds of play-offs to go.

"It is about squad rotation," said Biggar.

"If you look at the forwards in particular, if they play on a Saturday you probably don't feel quite right until the Wednesday or Thursday and are fully able to train the following week.

"It is going to be very difficult for forwards to back up from Saturday to Wednesday.

"It is about using our squad and that's why we feel as if we are in a decent position because we have been able to get people back fit, especially in our forward pack."

Biggar will stay at Franklins Gardens for the next couple of seasons after dismissing rumours of a big-money move to Beziers in France.

"I am happy and feel like I have improved and am a better player now than I was before I came here," said Biggar.

"It's nice to be sorted and have some security for the next couple of years.

"Sam Vesty [attack coach] is as good a coach as I have worked under in terms of making you a better player day in day out in training.

"Chris Boyd [director of rugby] is as good as anyone out there in terms of managing a squad and getting a team to play. Those are key factors and these guys are great for me."

100 not out

Dan Biggar has scored 439 points in 83 internationals since making his Wales debut in 2008

Biggar will also hope to be part of a busy revised programme for Wales during the next 12 months, starting with the final rearranged 2020 Six Nations game against Scotland in Cardiff that has been pencilled in for 31 October.

The November schedule is currently four home matches against New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji and Argentina but a revised tournament between the Six Nations sides and Japan and Fiji is the likely alternative.

Biggar needs 17 caps to become Wales' latest centurion and hopes to achieve that goal soon.

"I hope I still have plenty to give in an international shirt," said Biggar.

"I would love to edge towards 100 caps and that would be a heck of an achievement if I could creep up towards that milestone."

Excelling with Northampton and Wales could result in a second British and Irish Lions tour after he travelled to New Zealand in 2017 but failed to play in a Test behind Owen Farrell and Jonathan Sexton.

The Lions are due to travel to South Africa in July and August 2021 and that is set to be confirmed despite talk of delaying the tour until the autumn.

On his own chances of making the tour, Biggar said: "Anything else is a bonus from there because if I am playing well for Northampton and being selected for Wales all I can do is chuck my name in the hat for whatever is coming up.

"Who knows what is round the corner and this pandemic has proved that. I just want to throw my name into contention. It is down to somebody else for selection."

Dan Biggar played tour matches for the British and Irish Lions on their 2017 trip to New Zealand but did not feature in the three Tests

Player welfare

Despite the five-month break teams have had because of the coronavirus crisis, they face a busy year with two seasons to be completed and Biggar insists player welfare must be respected.

"It's going to be tough going," said Biggar.

"Even though we have had a break to freshen your body, which will benefit us, you are still ticking over and you have not been able to refresh yourself.

"It is a long season and there is no way everybody is going to play every game from whenever we finish the end of next season.

"I don't think anyone is expecting everybody to be flying in the first game or two when you come back. It is about finding yourself and getting back to match fitness.

"Hopefully it will be a good 12 months."