“It was a savage journey to Port Elizabeth,” added the 35-year-old, who made 112 appearances for Wales between 2008 and 2023. Biggar details Toulon’s travel itinerary which included a long bus trip and three flights.

“We arrived at 5pm on Tuesday, but the players were so knackered we only had one proper training session before the game.”

The veteran Toulon flyhalf noted that gruelling travel schedules on a short turnaround leaves players utterly drained and unable to perform at their peak, a problem made worse by the Champions Cup’s format that sees European clubs make the journey to the Republic for one match, as opposed to the Vodacom URC’s two-match visit which he believes is a more sustainable approach compared to flying halfway across the world for a single game.

Biggar proposed adopting a similar schedule in the Champions Cup to mitigate the strain on players and avoid situations like last season, where teams fielded weakened sides due to the travel demands.

While acknowledging the benefits South African teams bring to northern hemisphere competitions, Biggar stressed these advantages shouldn’t come at the expense of player welfare or the quality of the tournament.

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‘I think I’m seeing dead people’ – Ex-Springboks warn Bulls’ opponents about ‘life-changing’ Pretoria conditions

Springboks legends Schalk Burger and Jean de Villiers have issued a warning to Northampton Saints ahead of their Champions Cup clash with the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The highly anticipated encounter between the 2023/24 Premiership champions and United Rugby Championship runners-up is set to take place in searing hot conditions as most of the northern parts of South Africa have been experiencing a heatwave since last week.

The temperature is expected to reach a high of 31 degrees Celsius in Pretoria on Saturday and with the clash between the Bulls and Northampton set to kick off at 3pm, it could be a long day at the office for Phil Dowson’s charges.

Difficult to adapt to the weather conditions

Burger and De Villiers appeared on the Boks Office podcast along with the show’s host former Springboks hooker Hanyani Shimange and they all agreed that it’s going to be very difficult for Northampton to adapt to the weather conditions.

“It’s going to be a life-changing experience for them,” said Shimange. To which Burger replied: “Me and Jean once played a semi-final there in November and we came from Cape Town, which was hot.

“It was a 1pm kick-off against the Bulls U21, a semi-final of the U21 comp. There were 52 people watching us.”

De Villiers then mentioned how tough it was in conditions of extreme heat.

“It was 52 degrees as well,” he said.

Burger revealed how one of his team-mates battled to cope with the weather before eventually departing the field in the first half.

‘I think I’m seeing dead people on the field’

“We had a prop who was subbed in for someone and I ran next to him and three minutes in, he was telling me, ‘Schalk, I think I’m seeing dead people on the field.’

“He lasted all of 25 [minutes] before getting taken off, it was the hottest day. If they get one of those days in Pretoria, it’s going to be a long, long day.”

Northampton have struggled in the Premiership this season and De Villiers can’t see them beating the Bulls in their backyard.

“They’re not going well this year, they’re quite low down on the log. Definitely the Bulls [to win],” he said.

“Playing at altitude it takes a bit of adapting to and not a lot of those players would have player there before, it’s not like the URC where you come over every year.

“Then again conditions will suit them, they’ve got a nice attacking game so that will certainly help them and they will enjoy that.

“It’s all about what start the Bulls get. Can they get dominance from a set-piece point of view and if they get a good lead I think it’s one-way traffic.”