Leigh Halfpenny breaks silence over horror knee injury on social media
Wales full-back Leigh Halfpenny hopes past experience will help him ‘overcome the challenge’ of a season-ending knee injury.
The Welsh Rugby Union confirmed that Halfpenny would require surgery after suffering a knee ligament problem in Wales’ 68-12 victory over Canada on Saturday.
He is sidelined for Wales’ remaining summer Tests – two Principality Stadium appointments with Argentina – and the WRU added that further assessments would “determine his long-term prognosis and management”.
Halfpenny, who missed the 2015 World Cup with a cruciate ligament injury, was hurt during the opening minutes of his 100th Test match for Wales and the British and Irish Lions.
Writing on Twitter, he said: “Today I received the news I feared that I suffered a knee ligament injury against Canada on Saturday that requires surgery.
“Hard to put into words how I’m feeling right now.
“Tough one to take, especially on such a proud day for myself and my family. Whilst it’s a setback, I look forward to overcoming this challenge and making a return to the game I love as soon as possible.
“I’ve got a lot more I want to achieve and having come back from a similar situation before I’ve every confidence I’ll be back out there.”
Wales assistant coach Stephen Jones backed the 32-year-old to bounce back.
“It was a tough one for everyone concerned,” Jones said.
“The guy is a fantastic professional, a class act. The standards he sets in the environment, and how he pushes things forward, he is ambitious to improve all the time.
“It was a special milestone for a guy who has worked incredibly hard and had an amazing career and has still got international rugby ahead of him. To have to leave the pitch so soon was unfair on him.
“One thing about Leigh is he is mentally tough. He will do everything in his control to make sure he recovers and comes back as soon as he can.
“He is a superb professional, he will tick every box from that perspective, and it will be nice to have him back with us as soon as we can.”
Dragons wing Jonah Holmes moved to full-back following Halfpenny’s exit, capping an impressive contribution by scoring two tries.
He is likely to be in head coach Wayne Pivac’s thoughts for the full-back role against Argentina this weekend, although fellow squad members Hallam Amos, Ioan Lloyd and Owen Lane are also potential candidates.
Wales have won their last four Tests against Argentina, but they are without 10 Lions players and will encounter a buoyant team.
Jones added: “It is a great test. We are playing against a physical side, a side who are off a victory over New Zealand and two drawn games against Australia in Australia, so they will be feeling good about themselves.
“It doesn’t change for us. We are back in the stadium with a crowd, with an excellent group who are desperate to prove their value to the coaching group and are desperate for success, so it’s a great situation for us.”
Jones meanwhile, confirmed Cardiff fly-half Jarrod Evans was available for the Argentina clash following an injury, increasing options in that position alongside Callum Sheedy and Ben Thomas.
“Callum is a great ball player when it comes to attacking the line, and Jarrod is the same,” Jones said.
“They are both great attacking threats, and young Ben, who ran out at number 10 (against Canada).
“They’ve got great skill-sets where they can ask questions of defences. That is how we want to play the game, and we are blessed in that position.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments