Lion’s revenge mission

Leigh Halfpenny aims to put the boot to Australia tomorrow as Wales begin their revenge mission Down Under. [more]

Lion’s revenge mission

Leigh Halfpenny aims to put the boot to Australia tomorrow as Wales begin their revenge mission Down Under.

The Cardiff Blues fullback, who toured South Africa with the Lions in 2009, established himself as Wales' first-choice kicker during the RBS Six Nations Grand Slam.

Now his attention turns to the Wallabies and Halfpenny is determined to avenge consecutive losses earlier in the season.

"There is unfinished business between the two teams after the bronze final at the World Cup," said Halfpenny.

"We wanted to make up for the disappointment of losing to France in that game, but we lost.

"We are looking to get one back on them. We want to come here and send a message to the rest of the world that we mean business – it is a big target for this group to beat Australia in their own backyard."

Halfpenny took over the goal-kicking duties from Rhys Priestland during the Championship and become the tournament's leading points scorer and most accurate marksman.

His kicking played a crucial role in each and every Six Nations success on the road to the Grand Slam and the Gorseinon product hopes to hang on to the responsibility.

"We haven't had a conversation about the goal-kicking for this tour as yet, but I certainly hope to carry on," he added.

"I bided my time and got my first real chance in the Six Nations and I was pleased to be the top scorer and top of the accuracy stakes as well. I hope that will speak for itself."

Halfpenny has already begun getting to grips with the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane having watched the Broncos play the Knights in a rugby league match on Sunday.

"It was good to get a look at the stadium before the first Test and it was nice to see some different rugby. It was a good game – fast and with lots of tries.

"It's a big stadium and it's really nice. I'm sure it will be pretty full and have a great atmosphere on Saturday.

"I just can't wait to play again. I'm itching for a game. I just want to get back onto the pitch after a few weeks lay-off. We have had a couple of weeks in which to put in some good conditioning work and we've been training well. Everyone is itching to go because a fair few of us haven't played for a while."

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