Wales 2008–11 As a former Wales Under-20 international, Halfpenny received his first call-up for the
Wales senior national team in October 2008 ahead of the 2008 Autumn internationals. He made his debut in the first game of the autumn series against world champions South Africa on 8 November 2008, at the age of 19. He scored his first points from a penalty kick in the 20–15 loss. He went on to score his first two tries on his second cap against
Canada a week later. Halfpenny was selected on the right wing for Wales'
2009 Six Nations game against
Scotland, on 8 February, and again on 14 February, against rivals
England. He scored a try in each match and kicked a penalty against England to add to that. His points proved to be the difference between the two teams. He then played against
France in a match that Wales lost 21–16 in
Saint-Denis.
Warren Gatland then dropped Halfpenny for the 20–15 win over
Italy, as Warren Gatland experimented with winger
Mark Jones. Halfpenny was a key part of the Wales squad for the following two campaigns but he was constantly plagued by injury. Coach Warren Gatland had faith in Halfpenny, and the Blues winger did enough to force his way into the squad for the
2011 World Cup. During the World Cup, Halfpenny impressed in many positions, particularly at fullback. It was also in this game that Halfpenny became first choice kicker, ahead of fly-halves
Rhys Priestland and
James Hook. In the semi-final against France, Halfpenny attempted a 47-yard penalty that would have taken Wales to the final. However, the kick fell just short.
2012–2023 During the 2012 Six Nations, Halfpenny cemented his place at fullback and became one of the standout players of the tournament, finishing as top point scorer of the tournament. Some of his points came at crucial points within the tournament. Down 21–20 to Ireland in the 80th minutes, Halfpenny sent a penalty over to give Wales a 23–21 win over the hosts, and subsequently completed another four penalties and a conversion as Wales toppled England. Then, in the final match against France, Wales got a 16–9 win, with Halfpenny converting three further penalties and a conversion. In the final match of the
2012 Winter Test series against
Australia, Halfpenny suffered a neck injury while attempting to stop the winning try. He was taken to hospital but was discharged the next day without any serious damage. Halfpenny was named man of the match. In the first match of the
2013 Six Nations Championship, Halfpenny scored the 2nd try for Wales in their 30–22 loss to Ireland at the Millennium Stadium. The following week he earned the man of the match award when Wales beat France 16–6 in Paris. Again two weeks later in Rome when Wales beat Italy 26–9, he was made
Man of the Match by the Italian broadcaster. With over 80,000 people voting between 15 shortlisted 2013 Six Nations players, Halfpenny was also named player of the tournament, securing 40% of the overall vote. In November 2013 Halfpenny was named in a shortlist of five players for the
IRB Player of the Year. In December 2013 Halfpenny was selected as
BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year and was runner-up for
BBC Sports Personality of the Year to
Andy Murray. In March 2014, Halfpenny was ruled out for the rest of the season after he dislocated his right shoulder in the 29–18 defeat to
England in the
2014 Six Nations Championship. In October 2014, Halfpenny was included in the 34-man squad for the
2014 Autumn internationals against
Australia,
Fiji,
New Zealand and
South Africa. He scored 27 points during the Autumn series including all 12 of
Wales's points in a famous win over
South Africa, only the second in their history. In September 2015 Halfpenny was ruled out of the
Rugby World Cup after rupturing an anterior cruciate knee ligament during Wales' 23–19 warm up win over Italy at the Millennium Stadium. In 2021, in a Wales match against Canada, he earned his 96th cap for Wales and, with four Lions caps, his 100th international cap, but a knee injury in the first minute put him out of the game. Halfpenny announced his retirement from International Rugby in October 2023, and his final match was Wales v Barbarians on 4 November of that year.
Lions Halfpenny was included in the
British & Irish Lions squad for their 2009 tour to South Africa. He missed the start of the Lions tour due to a thigh injury requiring treatment, but once fit he rejoined Ian McGeechan's Lions squad in South Africa on 2 June. He played in the tour match against
Free State Cheetahs on 6 June. However, Halfpenny then withdrew from the Lions squad due to a recurrence of the thigh injury. Halfpenny was selected for the
2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia as one of three fullbacks touring along with
Stuart Hogg and
Rob Kearney. Halfpenny played all three tests, winning player of the series, and breaking the Lions points record held by
Neil Jenkins. He also broke the Lions record for most points in one test.
International tries ==Professional points record==