YOU DON’T KNOW WHEN THE HEADACHES ARE GOING TO STOP
Leigh Halfpenny on injury hell that nearly ended his career
LEIGH HALFPENNY is a nervy interviewee at the best of times. The Wales full-back might have won 85 caps for his country and four more for the Lions, but when a camera or tape recorder is put in his direction, the head bows, the hands fidget and the confidence and authority drain away.
After the 18 months he has endured, it is understandable that the 31-year-old’s self-assurance has taken a hit.
He is by no means rude when he talks, just desperately shy and reserved, and the words take a while to come out — but when he does open up, Halfpenny is worth listening to.
It was November 2018 when he took a major blow to the head from Samu Kerevi. The Australian whacked him off the ball after a clearance kick and knocked him out.
The Wallabies centre escaped punishment, but for Halfpenny it was the start of a long, arduous road back to full health. He tried to return a few weeks after the injury, but it refused to go away for months.
He is OK now, and is likely to start for Wales against Italy in the Six Nations opener on Saturday at the Principality Stadium.
But this time last year — in the throes of his concussion nightmare — he feared he would never grace the Championship again.
‘You don’t know when the headaches are going to stop,’ he says of the lingering problems that saw him miss the last Six Nations and seek specialist help.
‘You hear similar stories from other players who have had to retire because of headaches, concussion and things, and you can’t help but wonder, “Is this going to be me?”
‘Every time I tried to do something I would have these headaches. I did start to worry then about when they’d stop. That was the difficult thing — not knowing. I had to try to be patient and do everything I could so they would stop. It was a relief when they did.
‘I would do a session and get into the habit of waiting for the headaches to come because they kept repeating.’
While all this was going on, Halfpenny’s first child was born in January last year.
His daughter Lily is his pride and joy — his face lights up and his eyes widen with glee when he talks about her — and while her arrival allowed him a pleasant distraction, it only complicated his injury. ‘ When she was born, my whole focus was looking after her,’ Halfpenny explains. ‘It was difficult because there were times when I tried to help my partner and look after her but my head was hurting so much I had to lie down to get rid of the headache.
‘That was difficult but it did take my mind away from the headaches — worrying more if she was OK.
‘It was a difficult time. As much as I wanted to be there, I couldn’t because I had to be in bed to get the headaches to stop. Having her in our lives distracted me.
‘It’s been incredible having her and it’s special seeing her grow up, coming up with new things, words and sounds every day. I am loving fatherhood.’
Then, one day after training last February, the usual post- exercise headache did not arrive. At last Halfpenny was being released from the shackles of his scary injury. He then played at the end of the season, in Wales’s warm-up fixtures for the World Cup and three times at the tournament itself as they made the semi-finals.
In his absence, Liam Williams took the No 15 shirt. With the departing Saracens full- back now injured himself, though, Halfpenny has a shot at regaining his starting place. He could not be happier.
‘ I am loving being back on the field and playing again,’ says Halfpenny, an ambassador for Land Rover. This will be his 10th Six Nations, and if he plays in all five matches then only 11 Welshmen will have featured more for their country. He still remembers his first selection in late 2008 — and recalling the moment he found out he was due for national service is when Halfpenny becomes most ebullient. ‘ I will never forget the text message saying, “Congratulations, you have been selected for the squad”,’ he adds.
‘ I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t. That was my first year of professional rugby, so to get a call up for the Welsh national squad — something you dream of as a kid — you think, “this is insane”.
‘I just felt so privileged to get the opportunity.
‘I was nervous before going into camp and was pretty star-struck. I watched them win a Grand Slam and all of a sudden I was in the same squad as them!
‘I had grown up watching and admiring them. It was surreal. A dream. Just an incredible feeling.’
In a way he is still that teenager. Halfpenny is a private man. He has never sought the limelight and before regional games for the Scarlets he still goes down to his boyhood club to kick.
‘That’s how I feel — one of the boys from Gorseinon,’ he says when asked about his glittering career to date.
‘I go down the club when I can to see the boys, whether that’s watching them train or play on a Saturday if I get the opportunity.
‘Boys I grew up playing with there are still my best mates.
‘I still kick there. Usually when I’m back with the Scarlets. On the morning of games I have always done it — it’s something I find prepares me for the game, and helps.
‘I go down in the morning for a few hits, a stretch and a feel of the weather. I find it helps me for the game that day.’
It is an escape, too. Back to the roots, back to the game, back to the rugby field where Halfpenny has always been most comfortable.
Leigh Halfpenny is a Land Rover ambassador. Land Rover has been helping rugby fans discover the sport for over 20 years: LandRover.co.uk