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Leigh Halfpenny to return from nine-month injury nightmare in Toulon’s Top 14 semi-final
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Toulon manager Bernard Laporte announced on Friday that the Wales international full-back will return on Saturday
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“He will play, for sure,” said Laporte in a press conference in Rennes
Leigh Halfpenny Halfpenny is set to make his long-awaited return from injury in Toulon’s Top14 semi-final against Montpellier on Saturday.
Halfpenny has scored 508 points in 62 Tests for Wales, and was man of the series on the Lions’ tour of Australia in 2013.
“He will play, for sure,” said Laporte in a press conference in Rennes, where both Top 14 semi-finals will be played.
“He was supposed to play four or five times already but every time something was wrong — one time it’s the meniscus, another it’s the hamstring.
“He’s unlucky. He’s been training for six months, sometimes up to five or six hours a day. That’s a long time given his big operation was eight months ago.”
The Wales and British Lions full-back hasn’t played since tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in a World Cup warm-up clash against Italy in September.
He was scheduled to return to action for the European giants in May, but suffered a setback, which needed further surgery.
That saw him ruled out of Wales’s tour of New Zealand, but Halfpenny has been able to return to fitness to play a part in his club’s push for another French championship title.