Bernard Foley and Will Genia return for Wallabies

David Skippers

Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika has made four changes to his run-on side for their Rugby World Cup clash with Wales in Tokyo on Sunday. 

Cheika has recalled Bernard Foley and Will Genia to the starting side along with Dane Haylett-Petty and Adam Ashley-Cooper.

Foley and Genia replace Christian Lealiifano and Nic White as the starting half-backs while Haylett-Petty takes over from Kurtley Beale and Ashley-Cooper comes in for the suspended Reece Hodge.

The Wallabies pack remains unchanged from the one which started in the 39-21 victory over Fiji in their World Cup opener while James O’Connor starts at outside centre in what will be his 50th Test.

Cheika said the changes were about painting a “different picture” for the Wales match and not a reaction to a rusty start against the Pacific Islanders last weekend.

“It’s just a bit of a different picture,” he said.

“We talked about this from the very start. Not as a result of the game at the weekend. We just wanted to produce some different pictures.

“Wales are a very strong team and we have to be on for 80 and we have picked a team that we think will do well.”

White and Beale are on the bench but Christian Lealiifano has been left out altogether after Foley was handed only his third start of the year.

Foley, who was the starting number 10 at the last Rugby World Cup and kicked all the points in Australia’s 15-6 win over Wales at that tournament, started in the Wallabies’ loss in Johannesburg and the recent win over Samoa.

The Lealiifano omission is, in a large part, a rest for the Brumbies pivot after he’d begun to show the effects of a massive year at Super Rugby and Test level.

Cheika revealed that Foley had been spurred on by the competition from Lealiifano and Matt To’omua in the squad this year.

“He has been training well and training hard. I obviously believe in him a lot,” he said.

“He is trying to fight against the challenge that Christian and Matt are bringing and that’s good. He realised ‘I have to lift my standard because this guy is playing good footy.'”

Cheika said the ability to call on a host of experienced bench players would be handy as well.

“It’s a really tight go in our team across a lot of positions,” he added.

“We feel like this is a good combination put together for this game.

“What’s also good is we have Nic White, Kurtley Beale, Matt To’omua, Lukhan, Sekope Kepu off the bench, with the impact that we’ll need to beat one of the top teams in the world.”

Beale’s benching for Haylett-Petty is due to the expected high-ball barrage Wales are set to launch. The Rebels full-back is strong aerially.

The Wallabies’ reshuffle is in stark contrast to Wales, who have picked the same starting XV for the match as that which ran out against Georgia on Monday night.

Australia: 15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 James O’Connor, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Isi Naisarani, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 David Pocock, 5 Rory Arnold, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Tolu Latu, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Jordan Uelese, 17 James Slipper, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Adam Coleman, 20 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 21 Nic White, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Kurtley Beale

Date: Sunday, September 29
Venue: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
Kick-off: 16:45 local (08:45 BST, 07:45 GMT)
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (England), Karl Dickson (England)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

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