IT is hard not to feel for Wales full-back Leigh Halfpenny.

Nobody wants to see a player injured ahead of a major tournament, even less so when it’s one of the world’s best.

Halfpenny suffering knee ligament damage in Saturday’s warm-up match against Italy has robbed him of the chance to represent his nation at a World Cup on home soil.

He’ll never get that chance again.

Coupled with scrum-half Rhys Webb also being ruled out with an ankle injury, it is desperately cruel for both players and their country.

You can question coach Warren Gatland’s wisdom in selecting pivotal personnel in warm- up matches but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Sometimes it is just pure bad luck.

It is a shame for the competition as a spectacle for, no doubt, points-machine Halfpenny would have shone with the unerring accuracy of his boot.

True fans of sport should want to see the best at their best and there can be no satisfaction taken from players of rival countries missing out in such circumstances.

England and their fans should not revel in Wales’ misfortune in their pursuit of the game’s biggest prize.

If anything, they should fear them more.

For, despite this double setback, write the Welsh off at your peril when the tournament gets under way later this month.

If they weren’t motivated enough, this might just spur them on to triumph in the face of adversity.

Wales will feel wounded and that makes them dangerous, determined to prove themselves more than ever.