Posted by As the full-time whistle blew at the Arms Park on Friday, and Cardiff beat Stormers to secure a spot in the United Rugby Championship play-offs and next season’s Champions Cup, the S4C director opted for a close-up of Leigh Halfpenny being embraced by teammates at what is likely to be the culmination of a glittering playing career.
The teammates in question were Steff Emanuel and Tom Bowen, who finished alongside the great full-back in the back line on the night. Rewind to the day that Halfpenny made his senior professional debut, for Cardiff away at Ulster on 9th May 2008, and Bowen had turned two years old just two days earlier, while Emanuel was still just 22 months old.
I highlight that not to make Halfpenny feel old (although you are old in comparison to those two, sorry Leigh!), but to underline the longevity of a man described by Warren Gatland as the best defensive full-back the game has ever seen.
199 club games across Cardiff, Toulon, Scarlets, Crusaders, Harlequins and Cardiff again. 101 Cymru caps, 4 Lions test caps. A Challenge Cup winner, Heineken Cup winner, Anglo-Welsh Cup winner, a two-time Grand Slam and three-time Six Nations winner, a Lions Test Series winner in Australia, a Lions Man of the Series winner, a World Rugby Player of the Year runner-up and a BBC Sports Personality of the Year runner-up.
It’s an honours list that would given anyone possessing it the right to have the biggest head in every room they walk into, and yet Halfpenny could not be more opposite. A quiet and unassuming presence who largely shuns media and PR work to focus on his career and his family, but retains one of the biggest profiles in the game on the strength of his on-field work alone.
Starting out in the pro game as a nippy winger for Cardiff, he transitioned into full-back as his mentor Ben Blair wound down his career and would go on to quickly establish himself in the 15 jerseys for both the Blue & Blacks and then Cymru. By 2013 he was the best full-back in the world and marked that by winning the Six Nations Player of the Tournament and Lions Man of the Series awards.
Dependable in the air, positionally flawless in the back field, tactically astute when kicking out of hand, cutting in attack and brave in defence he was the definition of the whole package. Halfpenny was incredibly quick, but didn’t have to use that to get himself out of a hole because his vision and and reading of the game was so good he never got into one in the first place.
And of course there was the goal kicking.
The only coach mentioned in the Swansea-born man’s retirement announcement was Neil Jenkins, and the impact of Jinks is clear to see in the metronomic way that Halfpenny kicked at goal. His 801 points are third all-time for Cymru, behind Jenkins and Stephen Jones, while his 89% kicking record on the 2013 Lions tour means he’s scored the most points by an individual in a Lions test series.
From being released by the Ospreys for being “too small” to getting to the very top, it’s a testament to his self-belief, work rate and professionalism that he became the world’s best, stayed there for so long and continued to play at the highest level for 18 years. A career that most can only dream of encompassing the national team, Lions and some of the best and biggest clubs on the planet.
You only have to look at the outpouring of congratulations and adulation upon the announcement of Halfpenny’s retirement to understand the appreciation and respect he has earned. Certainly from a supporter’s point of view while it is Cardiff winning games that brings me most joy, to see the very best players play for your club is a close second and the man in the scrum cap ticks the box in permanent marker.
Throughout it all the humility of the man has been a credit to himself, his family and those who guided him in his early years. His unfailing commitment to Gorseinon RFC – where he would go to kick at goal on Christmas Day even as an international star – is admirable after a career where it would be very easy to forget where he came from.
That brings this full circle with Halfpenny now the dictionary definition of “role model” for the likes of Steff Emanuel and Tom Bowen. A masterclass in how to act as a professional, and a wealth of experience in how to perform on the field. His playing days may be coming to an end, but the story of Leigh Halfpenny in rugby does not finish here.
His impact on the likes of Cam Winnett, Jacob Beetham and Callum Sheedy are already clear to see, and while with my Cardiff hat on I’d love to see him retained as a coach at the Arms Park for next season and beyond, if the Welsh Rugby Union are not getting him on board to replicate that Neil Jenkins role of skills coach across the men’s national team and Welsh game as a whole then they are missing a massive trick.
So diolch Leigh, for the memories at the Arms Park and beyond, and thanks in advance for all the work that is still to come.
Cardiff Rugby Life 