Three-time British & Irish Lions tourist Leigh Halfpenny won his 100th cap for Wales this month and we look back at the moments that made him.
After making his Wales debut in the 2008 Autumn Internationals as a 19-year-old, Halfpenny’s career has seen him win Guinness Six Nations Grand Slams and European titles.
An international debut
While still a teenager, Leigh Halfpenny was handed his Wales debut against South Africa by Warren Gatland.
Having only made his Cardiff Rugby bow earlier in the year, Halfpenny started on the wing and notched his first points for his country while Stephen Jones received treatment for an injury.
Scoring two tries a week later against Canada, Halfpenny soon cemented himself in Gatland’s plans and the full-back was selected by Sir Ian McGeechan for the 2009 British & Irish Lions Tour of South Africa.
Due to persistent injury troubles, Halfpenny would not see out the tour, making just one appearance against the Free State Cheetahs.
Leigh Halfpenny was on a different level in 2013.
Wishing Lion #775 @LeighHalfpenny1 a very happy birthday 🎉 pic.twitter.com/BIn28wVhN3
— British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) December 22, 2021
Success with Cardiff
After that summer of torment with the Lions, Halfpenny returned to Cardiff and helped the club make history in 2009/10.
In the Celtic League, the back and his teammates were threatening but ultimately finished fifth and outside of semi-final contention.
It was in the Challenge Cup where the memorable work was done as Cardiff became the first Welsh club to lift European silverware, with Halfpenny hugely influential on the team’s journey to continental success.
This was particularly prevalent in the final. Staged at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, Cardiff took on a Toulon side who would in time become one of the best club sides of their – or arguably any – generation.
Halfpenny slotted over a sixth-minute penalty and later crossed for a decisive try with 15 minutes remaining to help his side to a 28-21 victory over a team that contained Jonny Wilkinson and Sonny Bill Williams.
A 2012 Grand Slam
Having scarcely begun his senior career when Wales won their 2008 Grand Slam, Halfpenny was a major influence as they repeated the feat four years later.
By now Warren Gatland’s incumbent full-back, Halfpenny finished as the top points scorer across the Championship with 66 as Wales bounced back from their World Cup semi-final heartbreak just a few months earlier.
Halfpenny helped Wales retain their crown the following year and it was clear that the Swansea-born back was destined for a British & Irish Lions jersey.
Taking Australia by storm in 2013
That destiny was soon realised in Australia. A significant influence as the Lions won a first Test series since 1997, Halfpenny had to ride the wave of everything the Wallabies threw at him.
Voted player of the series for his efforts, Halfpenny’s efforts in the third Test came just a week after he narrowly missed a kick which would have wrapped up the series.
He bounced back in style. Kicking five penalties and three conversions in Sydney, Halfpenny broke the record of his kicking coach, Neil Jenkins’, for the most points in a Test series, surpassing his countryman’s total by eight to finish with 49 points in the Tests and 114 in total down under.
It was this tour which cemented Halfpenny as one of the game’s leading players, but at just 24, there was much more to come.
Champions Cup glory
In 2014, Halfpenny joined French club Toulon – a very different beast to that which Cardiff had tamed in the Challenge Cup final just four years previously.
Two-time Champions Cup winners and Top 14 champions, Halfpenny helped the side secure a third and, to date, final European trophy.
With Jonny Wilkinson having retired the year prior, Halfpenny took on kicking duties for an all-star side, in which the Welshman could call Bryan Habana, Matt Giteau and Mathieu Bastareaud teammates.
Kicking 16 points in the Champions Cup final at Twickenham, Halfpenny helped install that Toulon team as one of the best in rugby history and lifted the most sought after trophy in the club game.
Resilience helps bring up century
Over the years, Halfpenny has suffered plenty of injury setbacks.
Having had the drive and determination to keep on returning and not letting misfortune stop him from competing at the highest level consistently, his 100th cap this weekend will be just reward for those efforts.
He will hope it is just the start of a memorable few weeks, with a place at what could be his third World Cup up for grabs.
