Foley kicking back to its brilliant best

TO understand why Bernard Foley couldn’t buy a goal in Dunedin but hasn’t missed a kick since, you have to look at another Aussie who strikes a ball off a tee: Marc Leishman.

Leishman ( pictured) was the toast of Australian golf last week when he pocketed $ 2 million for winning the BMW Championship in Chicago.

The Victorian’s second win of the year on the PGAA Tour came just two tourna- ments after he had missed the cut in the Northern Trust.

Leishman bounced back swiftly to finish third in his following tournament and then win the next.

According to Wallabies skills coach Mick Byrne, the key to success in psychologically fraught skills such as golf or goalkicking is “faith, especially when you have a hiccup”.

It’s why Foley, after kicking two from six in Dunedin, has since kicked 12 straight in Tests against South Africa and Argentina.

“It’s like in any golfers are a classic Byrne said.

“We look at Leishman, he’s just won that tournament. But you go back to a tournament he had before, he wasn’t hitting the ball really well there.

“You just have those moments at the top end. You can’t get concerned about what happened or why it was this, or why it was that, because you get caught up in stuff that’s not really there.

“You trust your rhythm, go back and work on what you need to work on. sport; one,”

“There were a couple of little things we focused on but the main thing was, just get back into your rhythm and trust yourself.

“Because up until that game and since that game, he’d been going well.”

Australia lost by six against New Zealand in Dunedin when Foley missed nine points with his goalkicking but there was no issue other than being a “bit quick on the ball”. He has quickly rediscovered his rhythm and has since kicked five from five against the Boks and seven from seven against the Pumas.

Having the “Ice Man” will go a long way to the Wallabies toppling the Boks in Bloemfontein because four of the past six games between the teams have been decided by six points or less.

The Wallabies also have Reece Hodge, who can slot goals from behind the halfway line – and change the way a rival team thinks.

“If you’ve got a guy who can kick the ball from 55m ... you might have a second thought about giving away a penalty from 55m out,” Byrne said.