Australia's Will Genia looks ready to prove himself to number one scrum-half in the world
© Getty Images
|
Gerry Thornley of the Irish Times profiles Wallabies scrum-half Will Genia, a player he feels capable of inspiring his country ro World Cup glory.
"It's a point made before but it’s worth repeating this week of all weeks. Think back to David Kirk’s role as captain of the inaugural winners from New Zealand, and with every World Cup champions since they have usually boasted the world’s best scrumhalf at the time. The next few weeks will tell a tale, but Will Genia is beginning to look the part.
"Be it Nick Farr-Jones, Joost van der Westhuizen, George Gregan, Matt Dawson and most definitely Fourie du Preez, the Kirk example has been generally emulated. Much to his own embarrassment, the comparisons with the 119-times capped, Zimbabwean-born Gregan are invariably the most commonplace, with Genia once saying that mention of him in the same sentence was “a joke”.
"Yet almost two years ago, when Genia was still only 11 caps into his career, Gregan said of him: 'He’s got a lot more skills than me. He’s bigger, stronger and he can kick a lot further. I’m a dinosaur compared to him. He’s got a good head on his shoulders. I like the way he plays. He has time and space to do things, which is a sign of a real quality player. He’s only 22 and has heaps of improvement in him. That’s what’s exciting.'"
RSS feed
