Gareth Thomas: Leigh Halfpenny's injury makes Wales underdogs - and that's just how we like it
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ByEurosport
Updated 14/09/2015 at 10:03 GMT
In the first of his exclusive Rugby World Cup columns for Eurosport, Wales legend Gareth Thomas discusses Leigh Halfpenny's tournament-ending injury, suffered in the closing moments of the final warm-up match against Italy.
Gareth Thomas
Image credit: AFP
Leigh Halfpenny's injury, from a Welsh point of view, is terrible for the nation. But it's also a huge blow to the World Cup itself. It's the tournament where you want the best players in the world playing, on a stage which showcases the game, the players, their physicality, the sacrifices they make, everything.
And it's very cruel on Halfpenny, who has been a stalwart for Wales for years. It's particularly sad given that his emergence as one of the best players in the world started four years ago at the last World Cup; this would have been his chance to follow that up.
But it's simple: from a player's point of view, you look at it a little differently. Yes, it's bad timing, but that's rugby. With all the glory you get, all the honours, all the back-patting, all the praise, come the bad times. You get injuries constantly.
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Wales' Leigh Halfpenny was carried off the pitch on a medical cart
Image credit: PA Sport
Sometimes they come at the right time, at the end of a normal season when you have a few months to recuperate. And other times they come in the final few minutes of the final warm-up match, and rule you out of a tournament that only comes round once every four years.
As for the criticism of Warren Gatland playing right to the end of the Italy match? Personally, I don't think it's justified. It's a hindsight thing that everybody jumps on. Some have suggested he might have been carrying a slight knock, but there's no way I think that was the case. Halfpenny is an established international player, and he simply wouldn't go out on the field - or be allowed out on the field - if he wasn't fit.
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Man of the Match and Man of the Series, British and Irish Lions' Leigh Halfpenny celebrates their series victory
Image credit: PA Sport
You can't wrap players in cotton wool. If you did, where does it stop anyway? Should you then bench him for the match against Uruguay, to save him for England and Australia?
Of course not. It was the last match before the World Cup, and Wales needed to play their best team, and to win. You need to put the boys out there - injuries are just part and parcel of the game.
But on a more positive note, though, there's a genuine bright side. Wales have lost a world class number 15, but they're able to replace him with a man who's climbing the ladder of world class rugby players in Liam Williams.
So as sad as it is to lose Halfpenny's ability to keep us in games with the boot, and win us games with the boot, we're gaining a player who'll add a different dimension to our game.
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Liam Williams is on course to be available for Wales' World Cup opener against Uruguay later this month after recovering from a foot injury
Image credit: PA Sport
Williams isn't a joker, or a wildcard. He's a player who is a proven international performer - yes, one with a different way of playing to Halfpenny, but that will actually help.
So you look at him and think, okay, does this mean now that Wales will come to the World Cup with more of an attacking threat?
They've lost their main goalkicker, but could it benefit them? Will being forced to play a bit more actually mean they end up scoring more tries?
The whole balance of the team has gone because they've lost a man who's more of a kicker and replaced him with a man who's more of a runner.
That could be exciting, since it could give Wales the element of surprise - something which can be crucial in World Cups, where it's generally more comfortable playing teams who don't know you than it is playing sides you know so well from the Six Nations.
And a change at full-back is the perfect place for that change to come. I've played full-back, and it's a pivotal role in determining the approach of the whole team. You're on your own a lot, but your team-mates have to know what you're going to do - and your choices change the work-rate of the side.
With a kicking full-back the rest of the side won't get on their bikes running back since they know that the ball will likely be kicked upfield anyway - they end up shuttling up and down in midfield.
But with an attacking full-back everybody works that much harder to get back - which gives the full-back more options, and in turn opens the game up a lot more. At that point everybody realises that they're not in a kicking phase, but a running, attacking one.
In other words the full-back's style spreads throughout the entire team.
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Liam Williams will be part of Wales' World Cup campaign after recovering from a foot injury
Image credit: PA Sport
Sure, I'm trying to look at this positively, but a lot of other teams will look at Wales now and think that if they've lost Leigh Halfpenny they've lost their attacking threat, and take their eye off the danger.
All of a sudden that turns Wales into underdogs - and, trust me as a Welshman, being underdogs is what we like best.
Gareth Thomas
Gareth Thomas will be writing exclusive columns for Eurosport throughout the 2015 Rugby World Cup
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