Coach Michael Cheika keeps everyone guessing about his best playmakers
Stalwarts Will Genia and Bernard Foley are back at the helm for the first time this season against Samoa, but coach Michael Cheika is far from settled on his preferred duo for the World Cup.
Rugby
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The mystery over just who coach Michael Cheika rates as his top playmaking duo has intensified with the Wallabies to run their fourth halves pairing of the year.
Stalwarts Will Genia and Bernard Foley are back at the helm for the first time this season against Samoa at western Sydney’s Bankwest Stadium on Saturday night.
The bigger picture is what it means as the Rugby World Cup opener against Fiji in Sapporo on September 21 rushes towards Cheika and his troops.
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Genia and Foley are Cheika’s top pair if you follow the vibe that England (Owen Farrell and Ben Youngs) and South Africa (Handre Pollard and Faf de Klerk) have picked their No.1 pairings for their final tune-up Tests.
Not so fast.
Cheika gave halfback Nic White and flyhalf Christian Lealiifano the bulk of the minutes together during the shortened four-Test build-up to date.
The investment paid off handsomely in bringing White back to Test tempo from English club rugby.
Lealiifano orchestrated a perfectly-synched set play try when Reece Hodge scored against Argentina.
He too was brought up to Test pace with a very solid showing in the brilliant win over the All Blacks in Perth and going through the flipside in Auckland a week later.
His goalkicking was excellent until the two misses in Auckland.
Cheika will feel he now has two legitimate halfback options and the same at No.10 for the horses-for-courses tack he’ll spruik at the tournament.
Foley has most to gain against Samoa because he hasn’t played a convincing hour of Test rugby this year.
The Samoans play the same helter-skelter attacking style as the Fijians and with the same unstable set piece.
A clinical Foley dictating to the Samoans with smart kicking for territory and selective attacking plays, not run-at-all-costs stupidity, is what he must show.
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This is an ideal Test to trial some of the strategies to beat Fiji.
Genia’s experience from 104 Tests is a huge factor to take to the World Cup and he loves the extra freedom he has to operate under new backs coach Shaun Berne.
Cheika will keep everyone guessing on halfback and flyhalf because that’s the job of a World Cup coach.
Wallabies’ fans can feel some comfort that all his options have a positive look.