Toulon marooned without Halfpenny
Leigh Halfpenny stands today at the top of a mighty pile, out on his own as the highest points scorer of the European season. The rest of the game ought to raise a collective scrum-cap in acknowledgement of the Welshman’s achievement.
As the only goalkicker to top 400 points, Halfpenny’s haul is positively Wilkinson-esque – ample proof of his success in following the toughest act of all. Toulon did not have to wait for last Sunday night’s Top 14 finale against Clermont in Paris to know what they will be missing.
Nobody will ever know but, had the sharpest marksman in the game been there instead of half a world away, Toulon might well have taken the match to extra time. His 20-yearold deputy off the tee, Anthony Belleau, struck the same post with successive penalties which Halfpenny would surely have goaled.
Without their Lion of a full-back against La Rochelle in Marseille the previous week they would have been hard pushed to reach their fifth domestic final in six years. With Halfpenny hopelessly marooned half a world away in New Zealand, Toulon wound up paying a heavy price for his absence.
In 22 matches for his club, Halfpenny has averaged as near to five goals-a-game as makes no difference. His season’s Test average, over nine matches for Wales, stretches to almost the same average.
Gaetan Germain, the Top 14’s leading scorer with 369 points from 28 matches for Brive, finishes a somewhat distant second in The
Rugby Paper’s exclusive table. Owen Farrell makes it in third place despite sitting out the first six weeks of the season because of injury.
Jimmy Gopperth, the Premiership’s golden boot, is the only other player to pass 300, thanks to the fact he helped himself to more tries than Halfpenny, Germain and Farrell put together.
Another Wasp, Christian Wade, claims the title of Europe’s leading try scorer ahead of a trio of Fijians – Waisea Nayacalevu of Stade Francais, Bath’s Semesa Rokoduguni and Montpellier’s Nemani Nadolo.