Rugby World Cup
Bernard Foley's career was almost over before it began with ruptured kidney as a kid
Sam Bruce
October 15, 2015
Cheika: We've done nothing yet

Wallabies playmaker Bernard Foley turned in one of the finest individual displays at Twickenham a fortnight ago, but it pales in comparison to the challenge he faced as a teenager.

Foley was instrumental in the Wallabies' 33-13 victory over Twickenham, scoring 28 points from two tries and a perfect seven from seven with the boot. He then backed that up with a solid performance in Australia's gritty 15-6 win over Wales at the weekend, a key tackle on the powerful George North helping the Wallabies negotiate a period where they had just 13 men on the field.

Yet those twin Rugby World Cup efforts lose a little of their significance when you consider what the Wallabies No.10 endured as a schoolboy, a story that is intrinsically linked with his father, Michael.

"My dad's my number one fan, you can't keep him down," Foley said.

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"He'd had a leakage and needed open heart surgery at that time. He's been at virtually every game I've ever played and he coached me for a number of years.

"He was in hospital at the time and he wasn't allowed to be released and they wouldn't let him out for the day. But he made mum sneak him out of the hospital and he came to watch me play.

"During the game, I got a kick in the side. I didn't think much of it, I was just a bit winded but then I started feeling pretty ill. Then when we were dropping dad back at the hospital afterwards, they said 'why don't you drop in as well and get checked out.'

"They did all the scans and they said can you give us a urine sample and it came out bright red. They found I had a rupture in my kidney. It was pretty frightening at the time.

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"I then had to spend 12 months out of non-contact sports and off the rugby pitch."

Foley and the Wallabies return to Twickenham for the third straight week on Sunday when they face Scotland in the final quarter-final. A win will put the two-time champions through to a semi-final with either Ireland or Argentina a week later.

Foley will again team up with half-back Will Genia with the Paris-bound No.9 doing enough to hold off the challenges of back-up Nick Phipps.

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, for whom Foley helped deliver the 2014 Super Rugby title with a last-minute long-range penalty, said the halves pairing still had plenty of improvement left in them.

"There's a lot of energy there and I am looking for them to keep that going," he said. "They have improvements in them, and we have big improvements in us from the last game. I think they need to make that tangible, not just coach-speak."

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