Halfpenny’s a possible for our opener against Kings – Pivac

Star signing settling in nicely to life with Scarlets

LEIGH Halfpenny remains on course to make his much-anticipated Scarlets debut in the Guinness PRO14 opener against Southern Kings after settling into his first week training in Llanelli.

Halfpenny hadn’t been due to clock-in at his new employers until next week, when fellow Lions tourists Ken Owens and Jonathan Davies are also due back after a well-earned summer’s break.

But the Wales full-back, who earlier this month signed for the league champions on a three-year National Dual Contract, had asked if he could return early to make sure he was up to speed ahead of the new campaign.

The 28-year-old even avoided the dreaded ‘new boy’ initiation ... just.

“He was a bit worried when we told him he would have to get up and sing a song in front of 50-odd blokes, he was itching in his chair, but we let him off that,” joked Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac this week.

“He got the same welcome as everyone else does, he is well known to a lot of the boys, he is just getting to know some of the younger boys, he is a class bloke. He has come here heavily motivated, we wouldn’t have signed him if he wasn’t.

“He is a great guy and he’ll settle in well.”

Asked about the possibility of Halfpenny taking the field at Parc y Scarlets against the South Africans on September 2, Pivac added: “It’s too far away to make a decision yet, but of our Lions, Leigh would be the closest because he has come in a week earlier.

“He is definitely a possibility for the Kings game if he ticks all the boxes that he needs to.

“We’ll talk to Ken and Jon next week when they come in, they’ll go through the same sort of introductory phase for a week.

“It depends how they come through that, we won’t put any pressure on them to come back early, they’ll play when they are good and ready.

“Both were involved up until the last week (of the Lions Test series), I will be surprised if they are playing in the early part of the season, but we will take a view on that week by week.”

The presence of Halfpenny in training also made the day for one of the young academy players at the region.

“We had one of the Under-18s kickers in on Monday and he couldn’t believe he was kicking on the same field as Leigh Halfpenny,” said hooker Emyr Phillips, who is part of the academy coaching set-up at the region.

“He was a bit nervous, but it’s great for the younger boys to get in the mix.

“To have someone of Leigh’s experience and status to want to come to a club like this is huge for us and it’s great, not just for the current squad, but the Scarlets of the future.

“He has given the whole region an extra buzz.”

The Scarlets’ pre-season preparations continue tomorrow when they take on Pat Lam’s Bristol at Clifton RFC.