South Africa vs Wales: Welsh hopes go down to the line, but Dan Biggar is a big loss at the death

There was a desperate symbolism to it. Dan Biggar, who has been by a distance Wales’s man of the tournament, left the field protesting loudly with six minutes of this epic struggle remaining. Immediately he had gone, South Africa scored the match-winning try.

Biggar could be seen telling Prav Mathema, the Wales physiotherapist, that he did not want to leave for a head assessment and he continued the protest on the touchlines before slumping into a chair to watch the final denouement. While he was there, nothing seemed beyond Wales; when he was gone, hope died.

Of course, it is not as simple as that but the afternoon was a tour de force by the fly-half who, four years ago, was not good enough to make the World Cup squad. He does not fall neatly into any national sterotype: he is not a jinking Phil Bennett nor an insouciant Barry John. He more closely resembles the man who runs on with the kicking tee these days, Neil Jenkins, the kicking coach whose feats in the 1999 World Cup Biggar always hoped to emulate.

That Wales were leading at the interval was thanks to Biggar, who celebrated his 26th birthday on Friday. He kicked a first-quarter penalty from 15 metres and then created a delightful try for his half-back partner, Gareth Davies. From just inside his own half, Biggar launched a kick into no-man’s land, just short enough to draw Willie le Roux forward, just long enough for Biggar to catch on the full and feed Davies for the try.

With half-time looming, Biggar launched a penalty from 49 metres that hit an upright and in the minute of time added on before the break, he dropped the goal that nudged Wales ahead by a point. Two more penalties kept Wales in the hunt throughout the second half but there was so much more than that: within the same movement he brought off vital tackles on Jesse Kriel and Schalk Burger, and followed that with a try-saving effort on Bryan Habana. His kicking game was integral to the tactical approach adopted by Wales to find a way past the physical Springbok defence.

“It was a medical call to take Dan off and we support our medical team 100 per cent,” Warren Gatland, the Wales coach, said. “He may have felt he was all right but he was a bit unsteady on his feet. Over the tournament, though, he has done a fantastic job for us in terms of the way his game has developed, his leadership on the field, his calmness and control which have made him one of the top out halves in the World Cup.”

They have, as is fitting for the land of hymns and arias, set Biggar’s goal-kicking technique to music. The four paces back, the twitch of the shoulder, the pat of the hair, the right arm pumping, the pluck of the shirt, then the boot propels the ball through the uprights.

"What I've learned is trying to get the basics as good as possible," Biggar said after. "Apart from the magic at the end, that's what South Africa did, they asked questions of our defence all the time and that's what I will try to replicate when I get back to the Ospreys.I've been pretty happy with my goalkicking because there were some big shoes to fill when Leigh Halfpenny had to drop out but at the moment it's all too raw. It's difficult to put a positive spin on it but I think in the weeks to come we will be proud of what we did."

If the music is now a dirge, it should not be, for this tournament has certainly been, in adversity, a Welsh celebration.