Will Genia doesn’t believe the Qantas Wallabies will be undercooked coming into their first Test of the year against the British & Irish Lions in Brisbane today.
The Australian danger man, who will be playing his first game at this level since September 2012, has no concerns about the fact Robbie Deans has had his players in camp for the past few weeks and they haven’t played a competitive game since December.
“It comes down to preparation. We have been lucky enough to have two weeks build up to this test and we’ve taken the opportunity to bond well as a team in every training session,” said Genia.
“We have really focussed on buying into the way we want to play and preparing as well as we can to be as sharp as we can. We have played together previously a number of times and, even though there are different combinations, we are all very familiar with the way we want to play because it hasn’t changed too much over the years.
“We have had stability within the coaching group and the senior players in the squad have been together for a long time. We are the best prepared we could possibly be and that’s all we can do.”
Genia will go into his comeback Test following knee reconstruction with a new half-back partner in James O’Connor and a back line full of attacking potential. He will also be a marked man.
“If training is anything to go by I think James will do really well at No 10. He has really dived into the role of accepting the responsibility of running the team. I’m really looking forward to playing with him again,” said Genia.
“The way the back line is at the moment we have three or four play makers and that offers us a bit more creativity and spark in attack.”
The battle between the two No 9s will be critical to the outcome of the game and Genia currently enjoys a 6-0 advantage over his Lions counterpart Mike Phillips. As well as trying to get the Lions off to a winning start in the three-match series, Phillips will be seeking his first win over Australia.
“Mike is an exceptional player – he’s a physical, abrasive character who likes to get stuck in. But as far as individual battles go you very rarely as half-backs come into contact with each other,” added Genia.
“There are no real one-on-one opportunities with each other. It is more doing as well as you can for your team, rather than trying to do too much to try to outdo the other bloke.”
