The Wales and Lions full-back Leigh Halfpenny will have a scan on his right knee as fears grow that Test rugby’s leading goalkicker suffered ligament damage against Italy on Saturday and will miss the World Cup.
It was a costly final warm-up Test for the Wales head coach, Warren Gatland, who, having lost the Lions centre Jonathan Davies with knee ligament damage at the end of last season, is highly likely to be without the scrum-half Rhys Webb for the tournament, which starts on Friday week.
Webb, like Halfpenny, was taken off the field on a stretcher after his left leg became trapped in a ruck when he, too, suffered suspected ligament damage. He was taken to hospital where he remained overnight, tweeting in the morning: “Morphine and a scrub off the nurses. Good start to a glorious Sunday morning.”
Morphine and a scrub off the nurses. Good start to a glorious Sunday morning.
— Rhys Webb (@rhyswebb9) September 6, 2015
Halfpenny, who plays for Toulon, was at his family home in Swansea on Sunday , waiting for the swelling in his knee to go down before he could have a scan. His agent, Tim Lopez, said he was not willing to speculate on the nature of the injury, saying only: “I just hope that when Leigh has the scan the news is good.”
Halfpenny, whose right knee was heavily strapped, was injured 15 minutes from the end of the hard-fought 23-19 victory over Italy. As he tried to change direction to reach a bouncing ball, his leg appeared to become caught in the turf and he called immediately for assistance, banging his fist on the ground in frustration.
Instead of spending the weekend planning for Wales’s opening World Cup match against Uruguay and a group that includes England and Australia, Gatland had to draw up a list of candidates to replace Webb and Halfpenny should they be ruled out.
Mike Phillips, the 99-cap scrum-half who was dropped from the squad last month, is the leading contender to replace Webb while at full-back another experienced player is an option. James Hook is a fly-half by preference but he has been capped at 15 and is a specialist goalkicker. “You have to feel for them if they are ruled out,” said Gatland. “It would be a massive blow for them and disappointing for us. You have to put it behind you, work with the players you have got and give them confidence going into the next game.”
Webb has forged a strong international half-back partnership with his Ospreys colleague Dan Biggar who said: “Everyone knows it was a disastrous day all in all. It’s the worst-case scenario to have injuries to two key players just a couple of weeks before the tournament starts. It’s disappointing and frustrating and we will have to see how they pull up but it does not look good.”
