Bernard Foley admits his benching from the Wallabies team to play the two recent Bledisloe Cup Tests was a bitter pill to swallow, but he believes it will only drive him to be a better player in the long run.

Foley has been re-selected in the No.10 jersey for the Rugby Championship Test against South Africa in Perth on Saturday at the expense of New South Wales Waratahs team-mate Kurtley Beale, whose initial selection at No.10 against New Zealand shocked many people considering he had been playing at inside centre all season. That shock was compounded by the fact that Foley had not only led and kicked the Waratahs to a maiden Super Rugby title days prior, but had previously also steered the Wallabies with aplomb in the three-Test sweep of France.

"Off the back end of it all, it definitely was something to swallow," Foley said. "There was a bit of disappointment there for a second, as every player would [feel] when they get dropped, but then I focused on my role, digested it and looked forward to it. In a day or two and you get over it. You're still representing your country, you're on the bench and you still have a job to do. Going forward that's always going to drive me to be a better player."

While Foley is excited to be back in the No.10 jersey to face the Boks, he was at pains not to detract from Beale's temporary custodianship of the role.

"I thought KB did quite a good job in those couple of games," he said. "From a person who hadn't played 10 all year, to step up and call the plays, I thought he did very well."

Foley will be partnered in the halves by Waratahs team-mate Nick Phipps after Nic White was also dropped after the embarrassing 51-20 thumping from the All Blacks in Auckland.

"To come back in and have those familiar faces around is definitely a lot more settling," Foley said.

Bernard Foley has come a long way since scoring his first Test try against Argentina © Getty Images

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