Rugby: Genia's rise shows he's a fast learner

Will Genia. Photo / Getty Images

Rugby didn't feature too highly on Sanchez William Genia's radar as a child growing up in Papua New Guinea.

It was cricket and league all the way in the backyard, with Steve Waugh and Andrew Johns his idols, as Genia's father Kilroy moved up the ranks to be one of PNG's top politicians, defusing troop uprisings and addressing the United Nations.

And the All Blacks?

"There aren't too many memories, I just remember them always beating Australia," Genia recalled this week.

Now 21, and known as Will, Genia didn't play any team sport until 2000 when his parents sent him to Brisbane Boys' College.

"I was lucky I was an islander and they said come down to [rugby] trials. Because I was an islander, everyone just assumed I'd be good," he said recently, with a chuckle.

It was a fair assumption. Nine years on, Genia will play the All Blacks for the first time as the Wallabies' starting halfback at Westpac Stadium tomorrow.

His run-on debut on September 5 might only have featured in one of his backyard fantasies in Port Moresby.

Called in by coach Robbie Deans to usurp Luke Burgess at Suncorp Stadium, against the world champion Springboks, the livewire Genia ran, passed and kicked without a care in the world.

He was named man of the match, energising the Wallabies who produced a 21-6 upset, and fast pencilling in a long future in green and gold.

His first Bledisloe Cup test tomorrow will be a privilege, Genia says, but his approach won't change, even if Wellington throws up the filthy weather he's expecting.

"It's something I learned when I got the opportunity to start for Queensland, I just thought, 'You're here because you're good enough, so just back yourself'.

"There's no point being nervous, it's a challenge every time you get to play so you look forward to it and relish the opportunity."

He said first five-eighths Matt Giteau made it easy to be a cog in the Wallabies machine, while Giteau was immediately impressed with Genia: "He provides good service, consistently he's finding the mark and taking the right options."

Genia speaks confidently, appearing much older than his years.

His proud father was his country's defence minister and dealt with some sticky situations, like in 2001 when he helped settle peacefully a dispute with hundreds of armed PNG soldiers barricaded in their bases.

"He has made some good decisions, so it is in the blood I suppose," Kilroy Genia said.

He described his son as a good listener, with a mature head on his shoulders, but a fierce will to win. They're the traits that appealed to Deans as he plucked Genia from the Reds, where he'd been their second choice halfback at the start of the year.

- NZPA