Wales travel south to face the Springboks in a two-Test series in June, seven months after the double World Champions won 24-15 in Cardiff in the opening Dove Men Series international.
And while the recent RBS 6 Nations campaign didn’t end with an historic third Championship crown in succession, it did finish with a 51-3 thrashing of Scotland, a result that Halfpenny believes will ensure confidence is high heading into one of the toughest rugby environments in the world.
“To put that many points on Scotland will allow some confidence and momentum to feed through the squad as they prepare to go to South Africa,” Halfpenny, who will miss the tour with the shoulder injury he suffered against England earlier this month, told Wales Online while at the Ty Hafan children’s hospice.
“The tour to South Africa is going to be a tough tour, a huge challenge, but the boys are looking to go there and get two wins.
“It was great to see the team play so well and put in a performance in that last game. We set out to create history by winning the tournament for the third time on the bounce and it was devastating that we couldn’t achieve that.
“This is a massive year, going into next year. We have tough fixtures in the autumn (against Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and South Africa) and we need some wins against the big southern hemisphere teams to take into the World Cup. That would be massive, especially as we have Australia in our group.
“Then we have to do well in the Six Nations. We’re disappointed not to have defended our title this year, but we will be looking to make amends for that come the next Championship.”
Like Wales skipper and fellow Cardiff Blues star Sam Warburton, Halfpenny won’t play again until next season as he recovers from surgery.
The 23-year-old enjoyed a stellar year in 2013 when he was named Player of the Series for the British & Irish Lions and Player of the Championship in the Six Nations but he will now end the season on the sidelines after his heroic, try-saving tackle on Luther Burrell resulted in a dislocated shoulder.
He was in positive mood as he visited the new hydrotherapy pool at Ty Hafan, however, with his sights set on coming back even better than he was before as he eyes up his summer switch to Toulon.
“The shoulder is coming along, it’s been just over a week now since the operation. It’s hugely disappointing, but it is what it is. You just have to try turning it into a positive and I see this as an opportunity now to get some gains in the gym,” added Halfpenny, who admits he is sad not to have signed off in style with the Blues after 87 appearances since his debut back in 2008.
“I can’t practice kicking for a couple of months but I can work hard on my lower body and I’ll be doing a lot of rehab on the shoulder to get it moving so it doesn’t get too tight.
“I’m extremely excited about the move to Toulon. I can’t wait to get started on pre-season and to put that jersey on. I’ll be extremely sad to say goodbye to the Blues – they’ve been fantastic with me. I’m disappointed I won’t play on the Arms Park again, although who knows what will happen in the future.”
