By Andrew Collins
January 27 2014
Despite the increasing trend of Welsh players going to France/England and the inevitability of Leigh Halfpenny eventually joining the exodus, yesterday’s announcement came as a really crushing blow for fans of Cardiff Blues and Welsh rugby.
In any normal season, Halfpenny’s departure would’ve been the biggest news story of the year in Welsh rugby terms; but this year isn’t like any other and the crushing predictability of this outcome has left a seriously foul taste in the mouth.
Before we get all political however, I know I speak for all Cardiff Blues fans when I say that watching Leigh Halfpenny wearing our jersey for 7 years has been an absolute privilege and an honour to our prestigious history (yes, I’m including Cardiff RFC in that statement).
The term ‘commitment’ is often over-used in sport, to the extent that it loses some of it meaning. But our Leigh has embodied the very definition since the day he signed for the club, having been discarded by the Ospreys academy. Off the field, no one works harder. The great Jonny Wilkinson paid tribute to this recently, when the Toulon man went to the stadium to practise his place kicks ahead of our recent match, he found Halfpenny had beaten him to it, and by some time too.
Likewise, on the field he has been ever present - in an era when it has become common place and wholly acceptable to avoid playing club matches to save yourself for Wales, Leigh has featured heavily along with his Lions colleague Alex Cuthbert. Indeed this has been the stark difference to when Jamie Roberts departed this time last year.
And when he was playing, he was always exceptional. In his early days at the Blues, Leigh became a reliable try scorer on the wing - his performance in that position in the EDF Cup Final against Gloucester perhaps his finest - but it soon became clear that full back was his preferred position and when Ben Blair's lengthy injury kept him side-lined, the Halfpenny we know today was born.
In many ways it's apt that Halfpenny will join Wilkinson at Toulon as they share so many strong qualities. Wilkinson was Halfpenny's idol as a young man learning his trade, in fact Leigh admits to stealing the Wilkinson kicking style, but even putting both players' excellent kicking to one side there are still many parallels. Neither player boasts a particularly intimidating physical presence on the pitch, yet their tackling and defensive abilities mark them out as two of the world's finest defenders with records to match their reputations.
But perhaps most importantly, they share an incredible work rate and professionalism which has seen them defy the odds and bounce back, having been written off, to become two of the greatest players of all time.
An incredible player. An exceptionally hard worker. A fearless, committed performer. A role model. A gentleman. In every way, Leigh Halfpenny will be missed.
Watching him player practically every week for the Cardiff Blues has been an honour, and worth the admission price alone. And as we mourn the loss of perhaps the greatest Welsh regional player, we have to look at the WRU for answers as to why this was allowed to happen. Why is our game, which is thriving in so many ways, crumbling and falling apart at its core?
The long term effects of this club vs country war look extremely bleak, if not unsalvageable, and this particular wound may never heal for Blues fans, but the optimist in me hopes it may at least prove a catalyst for the Welsh Rugby Union to realise more must be done to protect the future of the game.
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