Leigh Halfpenny is loving life as a new coach amid rugby return hope in first interview since injury horror

Leigh Halfpenny still has unfinished business as a player with the Scarlets and Wales — a point he is at pains to stress as he looks ahead to next season.

Approaching the one-year anniversary of the devastating knee injury he suffered while playing for his country against Canada, he said: “It’s been a while and I can’t wait to get back on the field with the boys.

“It’s a big season ahead and I still have ambitions for both club and country, so my focus now is on the rehab and working hard to get back on the field with the Scarlets and helping to contribute to the team. We’ll see how things go from there.”

The roof fell in on Halfpenny’s sporting world on July 3 last year when he sustained knee ligament damage which has kept him out of action ever since. Some feared they might not see him in playing action again.

But the little big man from Gorseinon has made significant strides along the recovery road with the hope being that he will return early next term — possibly around the mid-autumn mark, though such matters are never a precise science.

He has kept busy by honing his skills as a coach. Three years ago, with the likes of Justin Tipuric, James Hook and Bradley Davies, he was one of 10 players selected for the Welsh Rugby Union’s Player to Coach programme, an initiative which has gone from strength to strength despite the pandemic.

A lot of the initial work was done over Zoom amid the restrictions on socialising. But earlier this year the union’s performance coach boss Dan Clements invited Halfpenny to work with Byron Hayward’s Wales U20s set-up. Helping the likes of Dan Edwards, Josh Phillips, Cameron Winnett, Harri Houston and Iestyn Hopkins with their kicking has proven a hugely beneficial experience for