Rugby World Cup 2015: Will Genia desperate for Wallabies to be a respected force once again

WILL Genia is driven by a desire to win back the respect of a nation after disappointing seasons have seen the Wallabies kicked and bagged by their fans.

BATH, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 21: Will Genia of Australia releases a pass during a training session at the University of Bath on September 21, 2015 in Bath, United Kingdom. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

WILL Genia says he is driven by a desire to win back the respect of a nation at the Rugby World Cup after disappointing seasons have seen the Wallabies getting kicked and bagged by their fans.

Genia shared his motivation after being selected to pair up with Bernard Foley in the halves in Australia’s opening clash with Fiji in Cardiff on Thursday morning.

The duo have only played a total of 72 minutes together but Genia dismissed concerns about their combination by saying they’d trained so heavily together, he’d grown as comfortable alongside the Waratah No. 10 as his long-time ally Quade Cooper.

Wallabies backs coach Stephen Larkham also brushed off the lack of game time or the fact they haven’t started a Test together, and revealed Genia’s 60-Test experience was the factor that won him the spot over Nick Phipps.

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Genia is desperate to help the Wallabies succeed at this tournament and the 27-year-old said a big part of his drive is to restore the Wallabies’ credibility and good standing in Australian sport after some tough years of getting bashed up by critics.

“Obviously we haven’t had the best wrap as far as the perception around the country is,” Genia said.

“You’re always playing up against the best teams in the world — South Africa, New Zealand — and when you don’t do well everyone is ready to jump on the bandwagon to bag you.

“I think this is a really good opportunity for us on the biggest stage of them all to play well, to make the country proud and bring back those fans who have drifted away from the game.

“It will go a long way to gaining some respect back. For me, I’ve been around for a little while now and it hurts every time guys kick you when you’re down and bag you. For us, and me personally, it’s a long way towards gaining some credibility back for the side and what the Wallabies brand represents.”

Genia, who is moving to play in France next year, said he wanted to leave the Wallabies in good shape.

“I don’t really care what people say about me but it’s more a case of what they say about the team, about what things that have happened in the past,” Genia said.

“They don’t back us. They don’t believe in us. That hurts. That’s something that is driving me personally to want to do well, to gain that respect and credibility back.”

Cheika and Larkham trialled several halves combinations this winter, and started a new no. 9 and no. 10 pair in each Rugby Championship Test.

But they ended up with one that hasn’t ever started together, only bench minutes across four Tests. Genia would have likely had a start with Foley but he spent six weeks out after knee surgery.

Genia’s running game and option taking at the ruck helps the Wallabies play directly but Larkham said it was his greybeard status that got him the post.

“Will hasn’t had a lot of opportunity this year at Test level because he was out with his injury. We’ve just seen the way they’ve [Genia-Foley] in the limited amount of game time they’ve had at training and we feel that there’s just that little bit more experience for the start of the campaign, which is going to suit us better,” he said.

“It was a very difficult decision to make.”

Larkham said he felt Genia has been building to return to his best for the World Cup after a few lean seasons. The one-time best halfback in the world struggled to hold down a Wallabies spot, and Larkham said he felt it had been hard for Genia to build any rhythm with Cooper getting injured and Queensland chopping and changing no. 10s.

Originally published as Rugby World Cup 2015: Will Genia desperate for Wallabies to be a respected force once again