Wales 68-12 Canada: Serious Leigh Halfpenny injury mars Cardiff win

Leigh Halfpenny went down injured inside the first minute of the game

A record Wales points win over Canada was overshadowed by Leigh Halfpenny suffering a serious knee injury in the opening minute of his 100th international.

In the first game in front of home fans for 17 months, Wales were shocked by an early try for Canada wing Kainoa Lloyd.

Two tries apiece from Tomos Williams, new cap Taine Basham and Jonah Holmes and further scores from James Botham, Nicky Smith, Elliot Dee and Will Rowlands sealed the 10-try win.

Fly-half Callum Sheedy added 14 points.

Head coach Wayne Pivac introduced five new caps with Dragons lock Ben Carter, 20, named man of the match as he debuted from the start alongside Scarlets wing Tom Rogers, with Gareth Thomas, Basham and Ben Thomas coming off the replacements' bench.

The occasion will be remembered, though, for Halfpenny's heartbreak on what should have been a magical milestone.

Halfpenny suffered suspected anterior cruciate ligament damage in his opening involvement after he slipped stepping off his left foot while attempting to counter-attack.

The 32-year-old appeared to know immediately he had suffered a serious injury and was in tears as he called for help. He left the field on a cart and was cheered off by the Cardiff crowd.

It was cruel on Halfpenny on what was supposed to be a defining day as he became only the eighth Welshman to play 100 internationals - in his case, 96 Tests for Wales and four for the British and Irish Lions.

Wales were already without some familiar faces, with 11 players away with the Lions in South Africa and regular captain Alun Wyn Jones injured.

Crowd return

Only 8,200 tickets were issued in the 74,500-seater stadium, with a crowd of 6,164 attending. A contingent of Welsh fans were present for the first time since the Six Nations match against France in February 2020.

It was Wales' first international since they won the Six Nations in March 2021 and was a warm-up for the two upcoming Tests against Argentina on 10 and 17 July.

Canada failed to emulate their famous victory of 1993 in Cardiff with their Welsh coaching trio of Kingsley Jones, Rob Howley and Byron Hayward having to concede defeat on this occasion.

The Canucks had not played since the 2019 World Cup and fielded an inexperienced side that had limited preparation time. They go on to face England at Twickenham next Saturday.

Howley's return, for his first game since serving a ban for betting breaches which saw him sent home by Wales before the 2019 World Cup, was at least a welcome sight.

Shock start

Howley's influence could be seen in the opening Canada score for Lloyd after the visitors had taken advantage of Wales losing Halfpenny.

A backline reshuffle saw Nick Tompkins come on to play on the wing with Holmes switching to full-back. That uncertainty allowed Canada to shock their hosts with a well-worked try for wing Lloyd.

Wales responded almost immediately with a score from a quick tap penalty by scrum-half Williams which was converted by Sheedy.

A searing break from captain Jonathan Davies gave Botham an easy try in the right-hand corner before Holmes crossed on the opposite side.

Front-rowers Smith and Dee and new Dragons lock Rowlands powered over in quick succession from short-range as Wales led 40-5 at half-time.

Will Rowlands crashes over to score for Wales

Williams continued the scoring after the break with his second score before replacement Josh Turnbull made his first international appearance for three years.

Dragons flanker Basham popped up for his quickfire double before Canada finally responded. After a couple of efforts were denied by the television match official, full-back Cooper Coats cantered over with Peter Nelson converting.

The Canada mini-revival was halted by a final try for Holmes as Wales beat their previous record points tally against the Canucks, which stood at 61.

Wales: Leigh Halfpenny; Jonah Holmes, Willis Halaholo, Jonathan Davies, Tom Rogers; Callum Sheedy, Tomos Williams; Nicky Smith, Elliot Dee, Dillon Lewis, Ben Carter, Will Rowlands, Ross Moriarty, James Botham, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Gareth Thomas, Leon Brown, Josh Turnbull, Taine Basham, Kieran Hardy, Ben Thomas, Nick Tompkins.

Canada: Cooper Coats; Cole Davis, Ben Lesage, Quinn Ngawati, Kaiona Lloyd; Peter Nelson, Ross Braude; Djustive Sears-Duru, Andrew Quattrin, Jake Ilnicki, Conor Keys, Josh Larsen, Reegan O'Gorman, Lucas Rumball (capt), Siaki Vikilani.

Replacements: Eric Howard, Cole Keith, Tyler Rowland, Donald Carson, Michael Smith, Lucas Albornoz, William Percillier, Robbie Povey.

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (GRU)

Assistant Referees: Christophe Ridley and Tom Foley (RFU)

TMO: Stuart Terheege (RFU).