Foley vow to kick straight this time

RECALLED Wallabies fiveeighth Bernard Foley has blamed the balls used for his horror night off the kicking tee against Samoa, and does not expect a repeat at the Rugby World Cup.

Foley replaces Christian Lealiifano in one of four changes to an overhauled Australian backline to face Wales in Tokyo tomorrow.

Lealiifano was favoured to be the first-choice No.10 in Japan after starting both Bledisloe Cup Tests before Foley had a forgettable evening against the Samoans in Sydney three weeks ago.

However, coach Michael Cheika has turned to the 70Test veteran for their most important pool game and will hope he can match his form of 2015 when he and halfback Will Genia drove Australia all the way to the final. Accurate goalkicking will make a big difference for the Wallabies, who have landed just six of their last 15 shots in Tests.

That includes a two-fromsix return for Foley against the Samoans, though he has an excuse. Having been practising with the official World Cup balls for several weeks, he was forced to revert to the old balls that night.

“I think they do fly a bit differently. They probably float a bit different than we expect,” he said. “But in saying that, you’ve got to trust your kick. You don’t want to alter for the ball or be changing because each ball could be different. You just want to try and kick the same.”

Foley famously kicked all of Australia’s points in the epic 15-6 World Cup group win over Wales at Twickenham four years ago. Like that result, tomorrow’s winners is likely to top the group and receive a friendlier quarter-final draw.

Foley said he had been working with Wallabies skills coach Mick Byrne on not just accuracy, but also his distance.