Dan Biggar seizes The Moment in battle of the 10s with Finn Russell

A fly-half is the centre of attention at the best of times, but this match – more than most – was a tale of two 10s. We didn’t have to go far before the analyses of the showdown between Dan Biggar and Finn Russell. Sure enough, theirs were the narratives that shaped the match.

In the end, the earthier qualities for which Biggar is renowned prevailed over the airy brilliance of Russell. In his 100th Test, Wales’s captain shook off the knee injury that dogged him throughout and stepped into the limelight once more to land a winning drop goal 10 minutes from the end.

Ryan Elias was the official man of the match, but he was only too happy to defer to his captain afterwards. “He took a knock early doors,” the Wales hooker said. “I thought the way he was rolling around he could be going off. It’s just a testament to the bloke he is and the player he is. He’s so resilient. You’d have to carry him off in a box, I think, before he gets substituted. He had a great game. That aerial pressure, I thought he was class again today.”

The irony is the match’s turning point, the moment the fates of Biggar and Russell separated, of Wales and Scotland, was a miss by Biggar. Each fly-half had missed a conversion in the first half from out wide, but they had not missed a penalty between them, both four from four, when Biggar tried his luck from long range.

His attempt hit the crossbar and rebounded back into play. Alex Cuthbert secured it, and in the passage of play that followed Russell knocked the ball on in an attempt to intercept. He was sent to the sin-bin for his pains. Scotland’s soul went with him.

With the stage his, Biggar suddenly decided those three points he had tried out for from a suitably dramatic long range were no longer