Leigh Halfpenny reflects on what was one of three agonising defeats to Australia in June © PA Photos

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Players/Officials: Leigh Halfpenny

Tournaments/Tours: Wales tour of Australia 2012

Teams: Wales

Wales fullback Leigh Halfpenny is relishing his side's showdown with the world's best sides later this year and insists "we don't fear anyone".

Wales will tackle New Zealand and Australia as well as Argentina and Samoa during a busy autumn campaign and despite a succession of near-misses against the southern hemisphere's finest, most recently during a 3-0 series loss to the Wallabies, Halfpenny believes anything is possible.

"It is a huge opportunity," the Cardiff Blues star told the Western Mail. "They will be at pretty much at the end of their season and we should be fresh. We still have confidence in our group as well, if anything it has grown.

"It will not be easy and we'll have to be 100% clinical and cut out the mistakes, but we are capable if we are totally at the races. Our preparation will certainly be spot on. When I go on the pitch with the boys I sense we don't fear anyone.

"We feel these little losses can be turned into victories and if we can do that then going into these games we can start expecting to win them and less will be made of the fact that we haven't done so."

Reflecting on the fruitless tour of Australia in June that had promised so much, Halfpenny commented: "It was hugely disappointing, hugely frustrating and we were gutted about it. We went there with the belief we could win the series and to be honest I don't think we were that far off.

"We wanted to come back with at least one win to say we had beaten them in their own backyard. But we gave away too many penalties and made too many errors, and you can't afford to do that against teams like Australia.

"We had our chances and we didn't take them, so maybe we need to be more clinical. It's a case of looking forward to them coming here for the autumn now and making sure we get it right."