Genia ready to claim his No.9
Genia played just one half during the Rugby Championship and was injected off the bench for the Wallabies against the United States, after knee surgery.
While Nick Phipps and Nic White were pushing their claims for the starting scrumhalf spot, Genia was simply trying to pull his body together.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has shown confidence in the 27-year-old to perform on the big occasions, after he selected him ahead of White, and Genia is determined to repay that faith.
After years as the undisputed Wallabies scrumhalf, Genia has had to overcome injury and poor form to compete for his spot.
He said competing for a spot wasn't easy but it's something he has learned to embrace.
"At the end of the day you want to have a competitive environment – as far as pushing each other to be better – I think that’s as far as it goes," Genia told rugby.com.au.
"You don’t sit there wanting blokes to play bad, or not play well so you can gain advantage from that.
"I think that’s the one thing I’ve had to learn, because for so long I was the starting No.9 and then had to deal with adversities of injuries and then getting dropped and things like that.
"You realise it’s a collective effort, it’s a squad effort and I’m just really looking forward to playing my part whatever that may be."
Now that he is at the World Cup, Genia is confident he can deliver a strong contribution to the campaign.
"The coaches have obviously shown a huge amount of faith. I feel like after the surgery my body’s feeling really, really good and mentally I feel like I’m in a good place," the veteran said.
The sport has become an entirely different pursuit for Genia this season, with the birth his of daughter, Olivia, and it’s a welcome change for the Queenslander.
"I think it probably just puts the game in its place as far as giving you the perspective that it’s not the most important thing in the world anymore," he added.
"If you think, live and breathe rugby all the time, you put so much pressure on yourself and I think that can weigh you down a bit," he said.
"More often than not when you enjoy your rugby you play a lot better too."
Source: rugby.com.au
