Rugby World Cup: Wallaby Bernard Foley gets a black eye after whack from teammate at training
Having used his demotion to work hard on his game, Wallaby five-eighth Bernard Foley returns against Wales. And he hasn’t lost his sense of humour.
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Sporting a big shiner above his right eye, Bernard Foley showed that he hasn’t lost his sense of humour or quick wit after losing his place in the Wallabies team to Christian Lealiifano.
After finally getting a recall to start against Wales at the expense of Lealiifano, Foley fronted the media in Tokyo and the first question he was asked was how he got his black eye.
"It was Christian, Christian got me,” Foley replied.
“Nah, I'm joking. That was just a bit of friendly fire at training.”
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He later explained that it was Jack Dempsey who clocked him but he wasn’t finished with the one-liners, delivering another deadpan response to a question from a British reporter about how the northern hemisphere teams have caught up their southern rivals.
"They have all got southern hemisphere coaches don't they?” he said.
Foley ditched the comedy routine when asked about his struggles to get back into the starting side.
Once an automatic choice in the No. 10 gold jersey, he’s struggled to produce his best this year, both with his general play and kicking, but said his time on the sidelines made him take a closer look at his game and how he could improve.
“When there's competition you have to review your own game, do a lot of self-analysis,” he said.
“You do a lot of time with the coaches. The silver lining of not playing is that you get the extra sessions to work on your game. You are a bit fresher on the Mondays, you get the extra sessions on game days where you can go and work tirelessly on your game, different aspects of it.
"I was trying to identify a different skill each week that I could work on so I am improving as a player, making my game more holistic every week. That has been the silver lining. It has been disappointing but now I get my chance it's making the most of the opportunity."
The Iceman was one of the stars at the last World Cup with his brilliant kicking under pressure and while his radar was off in his last outing against Samoa, he knows his kicking will be critical against Wales.
“We all know how important goal kicking is on World Cups, pretty much every World Cup ever played has been decided by either a kick or a drop goal or a penalty goal or a conversion,” Foley said.
“So we know they are important but you've got to treat each kick the same, take it with the same process, get out there and make sure you stick to your routine and strike the ball well.
"That’s your role on the team. I enjoy goal kicking, I always have. It's the role you get to play for the team so when you are asked upon you deliver in those big moments."
Originally published as Rugby World Cup: Wallaby Bernard Foley gets a black eye after whack from teammate at training