Welsh international Leigh Halfpenny was recently informed by Toulon that the club wouldn’t be offering him a fresh contract.
Halfpenny had been at the French club since 2014, and had many successful days with the French giants, most notably kicking fifteen points to fire them to victory in the 2015 European Rugby Champions Cup Final, as Toulon beat Clermont to record a third straight European title.
Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal revealed last month, however, that Halfpenny, one of the highest earners in the Top14, wouldn’t be offered a contract to extend his stay at the club.
It is now just six weeks before the start of the new season, and it’s hard to believe that one of the world’s best goal-kickers could be without a club when it arrives.
Halfpenny has no-one to blame for this, other than himself, as suitors Cardiff Blues and Scarlets say they can’t afford his wage demands, and his most recent admirers Wasps have also moved on.
A Welsh Rugby Union national dual contract, between club and country, would only require Welsh clubs to pay a 40 percent share of his wages, but they obviously can’t afford to do that.
“We were really keen to get Leigh on board and we tried over a period of months,” Wasps director of rugby Dai Young told The Rugby Paper.
“But we found it very hard to get a decision out of him and in the end we couldn’t get one. We have moved on since then.”
Make your mind up Leigh.
