{"id":651604,"date":"2026-05-05T18:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T18:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/651604\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T18:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T18:10:08","slug":"leigh-halfpenny-wales-full-back-legend-announces-rugby-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/651604\/","title":{"rendered":"Leigh Halfpenny: Wales full-back legend announces rugby retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Halfpenny was originally a member of the Ospreys academy who let him go because of concerns about his size.<\/p>\n

He signed for Cardiff Blues ahead of the 2007-08 season and played for Cardiff RFC and the then Cardiff Blues between 2007 and 2014.<\/p>\n

“I’ll be forever grateful to Cardiff for giving me the opportunity to join the academy and start my professional career,” said Halfpenny.<\/p>\n

“I instantly felt at home and will always look back at my time at Cardiff as some of the most memorable years of my life.”<\/p>\n

During that seven-year stint, Halfpenny made 87 appearances and scored 568 points, winning the Amlin [now European] Challenge Cup and [now defunct] Anglo-Welsh Cup.<\/p>\n

He signed for Toulon in 2014, winning the 2015 European Champions Cup with the French side before returning to Wales with Scarlets in 2017, spending six seasons in Llanelli.<\/p>\n

Halfpenny travelled to New Zealand to join Crusaders in 2024 before linking up with Harlequins the following year.<\/p>\n

After being involved as a kicking coach for Wales’ summer tour of Japan in 2025, Halfpenny returned to Cardiff with a short-term contract in September 2025 as a kicking coach and player and that deal was extended until the end of the season.<\/p>\n

He played his first game for the Blue and Blacks in 4,347 days<\/a> when he faced Ulster in the win in December 2025 and also featured against the same opposition the following month.<\/p>\n

That appearance off the bench in Belfast during the 21-14 defeat could be his final professional match, if Halfpenny is not involved in Cardiff’s two remaining United Rugby Championship (URC) matches against Glasgow and Stormers or any further play-off games.<\/p>\n

“It’s a special club and to be able to finish my playing career where I started means so much,” said Halfpenny.<\/p>\n

“I have given everything to rugby, and in return, it’s given me more than I could ever have dreamed of.<\/p>\n

“It’s never going to be easy to say goodbye but I’m finishing with an immense sense of pride and gratitude.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Halfpenny was originally a member of the Ospreys academy who let him go because of concerns about his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-651604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}