British & Irish Lions
Halfpenny winning fitness battle
Scrum.com
May 27, 2009
Wales' Lee Byrne and Leigh Halfpenny prepare for the British & Irish Lions' tour to South Africa, Pennyhill Park Hotel, Surrey, England, May 18, 2009
Leigh Halfpenny (R) is set to join up with his Lions colleagues © Getty Images
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Wales wing Leigh Halfpenny is winning his fitness battle and looks on course to join up with the British and Irish Lions in South Africa in the next week. Halfpenny remained in Cardiff as the rest of the squad flew to Johannesburg, undergoing treatment on a thigh injury with the Cardiff Blues medical team.

Halfpenny's late delay meant a call-up for his Wales colleague James Hook, but with Cardiff's medical team reporting that Halfpenny is back to 80% pace the Lions should soon be back up to their full complement of 37.

"We are happy with the progress Leigh has made since returning to us," said Blues physio Tim Atter. "He is running hard and is up to 80%, and over the next two days we hope to get him back to full pace.

"We have worked mainly on strengthening and conditioning, and Leigh has also done some light kicking. Hopefully, he can fly out to meet up with the rest of the Lions on the weekend or early next week. Leigh himself has been really positive and worked exceptionally hard - he is determined to get on the tour."

The Lions reported a clean bill of health for their players upon landing in South Africa, and will be hoping for minimal disruptions after Tomas O'Leary, Alan Quinlan and Jerry Flannery all joined Halfpenny in having to withdraw before the squad left.

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