Will Genia and Bernard Foley partnership raises Australia’s Rugby World Cup hopes

The form of Will Genia alongside Bernard Foley in Australia's half-back line has been integral to Australia's early Rugby World Cup success. Paul Miller / EPA

CARDIFF // Will Genia and Bernard Foley might not yet be worthy of mention in the same breath as the great Australian half-back partnerships of Nick Farr-Jones and Michael Lynagh or George Gregan and Stephen Larkham, but it is still very early days.

Thrown together for the Wallabies’ opening match of the Rugby World Cup against Fiji, Genia and Foley have provided Australia’s fulcrum for the three key victories in their march to the quarter-finals as the tournament’s form team.

Coach Michael Cheika’s desire to “bring something different” to every match means there is no absolute guarantee he will not tweak his side for Sunday’s meeting with Scotland, but a change to his half-back combination looks unlikely.

For a period around the last World Cup it looked as though Genia, whose formal first name Sanchez also serves as a nickname, and Quade Cooper would be the partnership to usher in a new era of Wallabies rugby.

Injury, loss of form and Cooper’s off-field indiscretions intervened, however, and earlier this year the same Genia who was hailed as the best scrum-half in the world in 2011 was by no means certain even of a place in Cheika’s squad.

Foley, meanwhile, had emerged from Australia’s sevens squad to take over the fly-half role under Cheika at New South Wales, his nerveless place-kicking under pressure earning the Waratahs a Super Rugby title and the nickname “Iceman”.

Despite the reservations of many back home about his suitability as a Test No 10, Foley’s 56 points in three matches, including two outstanding tries against England, make him one of the top performers at the World Cup.

Though Foley plays at state level with the New South Wales Waratahs and Genia at the Queensland Reds, the duo have gelled quickly at national level.

“We train so much together, we’ve had so much time together, so you have plenty of time to develop those combinations and understand each other’s games,” Genia said.

“From a half-back point of view, it’s been quite seamless and I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to play with ‘Foles’.”

For Foley, being given the chance to combine with Genia fulfilled a personal ambition.

“For a number of years I had a lot of admiration for Will, watching him play, so I knew his style of game and hoped it would work with my game,” Foley said.

“Hopefully, we can grow this combination. We can take it to another level for sure.”

On Sunday at Twickenham Genia will come up against another of the tournament’s form half-backs in Scotland’s Greig Laidlaw, whose individual performance at scrum-half did much to get the Scots past Samoa and into the last eight.

“He’s their skipper and their goal kicker, and I’ve heard he’s been playing very, very well,” Genia said.

“He leads his side incredibly well and he’s kicking well, too. Hopefully he doesn’t play too well.”

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @NatSportUAE