By David Williams
Leigh Halfpenny enjoyed beating England – again – and having done it in a warm-up, he wants to repeat the trick at the World Cup.
Halfpenny put the boot into the auld enemy to pick up his fifth win in 12 games against England at the weekend and now wants the chance to do it again.
The 34-year-old full back finally picked up his 100th Welsh cap in the first of Wales’ World Cup warm-ups and showed Warren Gatland he is ready for a third tournament if required.
“I can’t think of a Welshman who deserves it more”
George North is full of praise for Leigh Halfpenny ahead of his 100th cap for Wales#BBCRugby pic.twitter.com/LAjChyIq1T
— BBC ScrumV (@BBCScrumV) August 4, 2023
An emotional day began with him running onto the ground on his own to take the applause of the 65,000 crowd and ended into the dressing room with him banging out the Gorseinon rugby club song, ‘Silver Dollar’.
“It’s a song we sang in Gorseinon when I was a kid coming through. You’d hear the adult boys singing it and you’d learn it – it’s a favourite among my friends and it’s a song close to my heart,” explained Halfpenny.
“It felt right to sing that. It was quite a full changing room so there were a few nerves. I sang ‘Waling in Memphis’ after winning my first and 50th cap, so I needed something different.”
In between he was at his immaculate best as Wales drew the sting out of an experimental England team before running over them in the second half. He converted the tries from Gareth Davies and George North and also landed two penalties.
“It was a pretty special day for myself and my family. Winning one cap for Wales was a dream come true but this is surreal and hasn’t really sunk in yet,” admitted Halfpenny
“I’ve got to give huge thanks to Warren Gatland for giving me my first cap and awarding me my 100th. I’d obviously love to carry on playing and the ambition is to keep going.
“I’d love to go to the World Cup in France but there is so much competition in the squad and in the back three. There is a lot of quality and I’m sure whoever is picked will do an outstanding job.”
Leigh Halfpenny pays special tribute to where it all began as he earns 100 Wales capshttps://t.co/HWoDzvGTGw pic.twitter.com/g8Ea45L2Vc
— WalesOnline Rugby (@WalesRugby) August 6, 2023
Gatland is going to go for a 19-14 split between forwards and backs for France and that could mean Halfpenny misses out. With three scrum halves and three outside halves penciled in that leaves eight spaces for centres, wings and full back.
Louis Rees-Zammit, who was denied what would have been a wonder try by referee Nic Berry on review after skinning Fredie Steward, is nailed on for a wing berth with Josh Adams, while George North is the leading centre and Liam Williams the top pick at full back.
That leaves the likes of Rio Dyer, Max Llewelyn, Mason Grady, Nick Tompkins and Halfpenny battling it out for the final four places.
‘Too fit for them,’ said Warren Gatland, as he walked through the mixed zone last night clutching an ice-cold beer. And he was right. 🏴reaction to victory over 🏴 here as positive signs of a Welsh revival are shown. @MailSport piece here #WALvENG #RWC2023 https://t.co/Wv0elSALUd
— Alex Bywater (@_AlexBywater) August 6, 2023
Gatland is set to make wholesale changes for the return game against Steve Borthwick’s top England team at Twickenham this weekend, but was more than happy with what he saw from his players in their first outing since the Six Nations.
“We were fitter,” he said as he left the stadium. “I felt some of the English forwards were blowing a bit just before half-time.
“I was a little bit apprehensive in the morning because I wasn’t quite sure how things were going to go. I knew the players had been working hard and so I was looking for a performance.
“It was a good start, and we’ll take a lot of confidence moving forward from this game. There will probably be a lot of changes for Twickenham and if we had to pick our best XV tomorrow there are only about three names nailed on.”
This is Wales’ best Rugby World Cup team right now https://t.co/bfpaTw9gNi
— WalesOnline Rugby (@WalesRugby) August 6, 2023
