Wales to add Halfpenny to coaching staff for Japan series

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Leigh Halfpenny won 101 caps for Wales and also played four Tests for the British and Irish Lions [Getty Images]

Wales will confirm former full-back Leigh Halfpenny will be added to the coaching team for next month's trip to Japan.

Halfpenny will work under interim head coach Matt Sherratt for the two Test tour as kicking coach, a role that has been occupied by Neil Jenkins for almost 20 years.

Sherratt will also be joined in his backroom staff by his Cardiff defence coach Gethin Jenkins, Harlequins duo Danny Wilson (forwards) and Adam Jones (scrum), and Gloucester's Rhys Thomas.

Other coaches who were part of Warren Gatland's backroom staff, including Jonathan Humphreys, Mike Forshaw, Alex King and Rob Howley, will not be involved in Japan.

Halfpenny would be involved for the first time as the kicking coach and is expected to be involved full time from next week.

The 36-year-old former British and Irish Lion has left Harlequins and is expected to continue playing by joining French second division side Beziers next season.

Jenkins, who has been an important mentor for Halfpenny during his career with the pair remaining close, is currently helping Wales Under-20s before the Junior World Championship starts later this month.

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Sherratt will again act in the caretaker role he adopted during the Six Nations after Gatland resigned in February.

New Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) performance director Dave Reddin is leading the hunt for Gatland's permanent successor.

In Japan, Wales will look to end a record run of successive 17 Test losses, having not won an international since October 2023 in a run that includes two successive Six Nations Wooden Spoons.

Wales will play the Test matches against Eddie Jones' Japan side in Kitakyushu and Kobe aiming not to slip from their lowest ever position of 12th in the world rankings.

The first Test, at Kitakyushu's Mikuni World Stadium, will take place on 5 July in the city where Wales held their Rugby World Cup training camp in 2019.

The second Test will be played at Kobe's Noevir Stadium – which features a retractable roof – seven days later.

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