DAN BIGGAR is the man to put your money on to be the 2023 Six Nations’ top points scorer.
At 11/2, Biggar represents good value because, for our money, it looks like he’ll be in a straight shootout with England’s Owen Farrell (7/2).
Before injury ruled him out of the 2022 Autumn Nations Series, Biggar had only missed six Tests for Wales since the start of 2019, and three of those were because he was away with the Lions.
With Warren Gatland teams playing a certain way, one that doesn’t always lend itself to all-out attack, Biggar’s boot will be called upon a lot to either keep them in games or win them games.
And there aren’t many better than the fly-half at slotting the ball through the poles. The Toulon man’s success rate for Wales in 2022 was an untouchable 91% and he is more than likely to get the nod for the kicking duties ahead of Leigh Halfpenny for any kicks of 40 metres or less.
As the top try-scorer market takes into account tries as well as points, that is something to consider.
Whilst Biggar isn’t prolific in that area, it is worth noting that six of his seven Test tries have come in the Six Nations.
Farrell is the obvious threat
England’s captain’s kick success rate was 83% in 2022 but he misfired in his last Test against South Africa.
No one needs any reminding of Farrell’s class in front of goal and he will be England’s principal goalkicker rather than last season’s top points-scorer, Marcus Smith.
With 55 points across three Tests, Thomas Ramos could barely miss in the Autumn just gone but until we know whether they are going to go for him or Melvyn Jaminet as the main kicker, it’s hard to pin our colours to his mast.
Johnny Sexton isn’t quoted at the timing of writing but his propensity for leaving games early due to injury would be enough to dissuade putting a wager on him anyway.
Finn Russell, a 10/1 shot, has been 100% off the kicking tee in four of his last six internationals and is probably done a disservice by the lack of attention his goal-kicking gets.
Even so, we don’t think he will be the first Scotland player to win this award.
Key takeaways
- 10 times the top points-scorer has come from the title-winning team but not once in the last six years.
- Last year was the first time England supplied the top points-scorer when finishing outside of the top three.
- 4th place is the lowest finish of any team to supply a top points-scorer (Wales and France)
- The Average number of points to win this award is 67 – Marcus Smith’s 71 was the highest tally for a season since George Ford’s 75 in 2015
- Top points-scorer awards by nationality: England 9, Ireland 6, France 4, Wales 4, Scotland & Italy 0
