Last weekend, along with my Toulon team-mates, I spent 32 hours on flights just to get to South Africa for our first game of this season’s Champions Cup.
It was a savage journey to Port Elizabeth and although we won our match with the Stormers, I think it’s important I speak personally about the experience because for me, it raises a number of significant points about how Europe’s premier competition is run.
Last weekend with Toulon, we travelled there on the Monday for a match on the Saturday. It went like this (deep breath): bus from Toulon to Marseille, flight from Marseille to Frankfurt, flight from Frankfurt to Johannesburg, flight from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth. Brutal. And we had to do the same in reverse on Sunday.
We arrived at 5pm on Tuesday, but the players were so knackered we only had one proper training session before the game. When we woke up on the Wednesday morning, no one was ready to train properly. Everyone felt horrific.
We also weren’t helped by the fact that on the weekend before the Monday we began our mammoth journey, we played Perpignan away in the Top 14 at 9pm on the Saturday night.
Our bus back got in at 6.30am on the Sunday morning.
Dan Biggar says European rugby must make significant changes to fix its South Africa problem
The impact of travelling huge distances for matches is a real issue, according to Biggar
I was up with the kids a few hours later, but Sunday was pretty much a write-off before we met at 12pm on the Monday to travel. The French league didn’t help us with that one!
It’s vital to acknowledge the impact on the players. The reality is that it is incredibly tough for elite athletes to travel from Europe to South Africa for a one-off game.
The same, of course, applies to the likes of the Sharks or Bulls when they come to the UK, with the former travelling to Welford Road to face Leicester on Saturday.
When the South African teams entered the Champions Cup for the 2022-23 season, after joining the United Rugby Championship in 2021, it immediately became clear the impact of travelling huge distances for matches would become an issue. It still is.
I can understand entirely why everyone wants a piece of South African rugby. They’re the double world champions. They’ve got so many world-class players and they bring significant television revenue into the northern hemisphere competitions. I think too they have added hugely to the URC – the league which also contains Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Italian teams.
However, there is a key difference between how the URC and the Champions Cup works.
When European teams go to South Africa for URC games, and vice versa they often tend to go for two weeks or more and play a minimum of two games. That is manageable.
Doing the best part of two days of travelling for one match is not.
Biggar (L) in action in the Champions Cup match with DHL Stormers in Gqeberha, South Africa
I am not anti-South Africa at all. It’s one of my favourite places to tour and the memory of captaining Wales to a Test win on Springbok soil will stay with me forever. But there are practical concerns over playing there in European competition.
On our way out to South Africa, we bumped into Exeter Chiefs who were also doing a similar journey. Their lads joked with us they were basically playing the South African and French national sides in consecutive weeks as the Sharks and Toulouse were their first two games!
Although we got the result in South Africa, I don’t think as a team we were in great condition to play at our best. That’s important because the Champions Cup is supposed to be the highest level of European club rugby.
We’ve seen teams field weakened sides already because of the impact of travel. Last season, the Bulls left their first-choice starters at home for a quarter-final with Northampton. That should have been a marquee fixture and instead, it was one-sided. That’s not what the Champions Cup should be about. But teams fielding second strings is going to continue to happen unless something is changed.
So, what to do? If the South African teams are going to stay in the Champions Cup, I would restructure the tournament so that teams travel there for two-week blocks like in the URC.
I’m aware some fans might think that as players, we should stop moaning and just get on with it. And when we were doing some charity work with local children in Port Elizabeth to support Siya Kolisi’s foundation last week, it certainly did put a lot of things in perspective.
However, we want the Champions Cup to be the best it can be and at the moment, teams aren’t being given the chance to play at their peak.
I’ve taken a lot of flights in my time. But on the way back from South Africa, we had a seriously frightening experience flying into a storm. There was lightning going off around us and severe turbulence.
Biggar believes that teams are not currently being given the chance to play at their peak
Pierre Mignoni, our coach at Toulon, absolutely hates flying at the best of times. Wherever we play matches in France, he always goes by road. He was going absolutely nuts on the return flight, grabbing on to the seat rail in a panic and telling the club doctor he’d be sacked unless he gave him a sleeping pill!
It gave us a good laugh anyway and cheered up the mammoth journey.
Most of the boys took a sleeping pill to try and conk out for the flights. And when we landed in Port Elizabeth, Kyle Sinckler – who is the king of recovery – was immediately sorting out saunas and other bits to try and help us acclimatise.
Kyle’s phone bill next month is going to be huge! He also bought the beers when we went out after the game in a place called Pool City.
The boys were buying big rounds. Kyle bought 150 beers in one go! The only saving grace for him was that they were only £1 each…
Our next game is on Sunday at home to Glasgow which is a relief. The coaches have told us not to come in until Thursday because they want to give us time to recover from the travel. And to be honest, it is much-needed.
Speaking to some of the Stormers players after our game with them, it looks like they’ll be resting their best players for their trip to London to face Harlequins this weekend.
That’s a shame, but also nothing new. And that’s why I think something needs to change.
