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Late withdrawal forces Wales to rejig their backline
By PA
Leigh Halfpenny was ruled out of Wales’ Autumn Nations Series opener against New Zealand less than 90 minutes before kick-off at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
The British and Irish Lions full-back was withdrawn after aggravating his hamstring playing for the Scarlets.
Gareth Anscombe was switched to full-back, with Rhys Priestland starting at fly-half and Sam Costelow joining the replacements.
Halfpenny has not played for Wales since suffering a major knee injury in his 100th international against Canada in July 2021.
A WRU statement reads: "Leigh Halfpenny has been withdrawn from the Wales starting XV following an aggravation of his hamstring injury sustained on club duty.
"Gareth Anscombe moves to fullback and Rhys Priestland will start at fly half.
"Sam Costelow joins the Wales replacements wearing number 22."
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Latest Comments
Yeah nah he comes across as a funny bloke, but that stopped abruptly after the Nutcracker Prince debacle✋
Go to commentsAt this point I can’t watch him without thinking he’s a dirty slimebag. He should have been banned for the same amount of time that Quinn was out. It took Tupaea near on a fricking year to get fit enough to play again and his leg will never be the same. The other crap thing is that he was at ABs level and now he has to claw his way back there when he could have had several games under his belt.
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