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Foley admits he hasn't 'shot the lights out' since international return but WC dream remains

By AAP
Bernard Foley. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Bernard Foley accepts that by no means has he nailed down his position as the Wallabies’ playmaker as he keeps his World Cup dream firmly at the back of his mind.

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The 33-year-old, who steered Australia to a World Cup final back in 2015, may be in pole position to spearhead the Wallabies again at the big show in France next year but he’s the first to admit he hasn’t “shot the lights out” since his international return in August.

Foley, though, can deliver a big statement about his credentials on Saturday should he orchestrate an Australian triumph in Paris against a French side rated by Wallabies coach Dave Rennie as the No.1 outfit in the world.

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“I don’t believe I have solidified my spot or come and shot the lights out,” Foley shrugged when asked by reporters on Thursday about his current position.

“It’s been great to come into this squad and to get to know the players, understand the coaches. This group has been trying extremely hard for a number of years now, and I’m trying to build on those connections.

“There’s plenty of improvement and I’ve been excited to go on this journey and keep challenging myself to be a better player each week.”

In the country where he could play in a third World Cup next year, Foley was not about to predict the future as he smiled: “There’s a lot of rugby to be played, probably a lot of personnel changes to be made too.

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But the World Cup dream, he added, “should be on the radar of every Australian player, wherever they’re playing around the world.”

“Although it’s in my back of the mind, I’m really just focusing on each week, trying to do my job here for the team. And we’ve got a great challenge this weekend against the French,” he said.

Foley, who kicked nine points in Australia’s 16-15 win over Scotland at Murrayfield last Saturday, is looking forward to an even more demanding experience against a side seeking a record 11th straight win in front of their home fans.

“It’s going to be very loud, a hostile environment and we’ve got to embrace the atmosphere and the whole spectacle and not fear away from that.”

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Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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