Thrown together for the Wallabies' opening match of the Rugby World Cup against Fiji, Genia and Foley have provided Australia's fulcrum for the three key victories in their march to the quarter-finals as the tournament's form team.
Maverick coach Michael Cheika's desire to "bring something different" to every match means there is no absolute guarantee he will not tweak his side for Sunday's meeting with Scotland, but a change to his halfback combination looks unlikely.
For a period around the last World Cup it looked as though Genia, whose formal first name Sanchez also serves as a nickname, and Quade Cooper would be the partnership to usher in a new era of Wallabies rugby.
Injury, drops in form and Cooper's off-field indiscretions intervened, however, and earlier this year the same Genia who was hailed as the best scrumhalf in the world in 2011 was by no means certain even of a place in Cheika's squad.
Foley, meanwhile, had emerged from Australia's Sevens squad to take over the flyhalf role under Cheika at New South Wales, his nerveless place-kicking under pressure earning the Waratahs a Super Rugby title and the nickname Iceman.
Despite the reservations of many back home about his suitability as a test number 10, Foley's 56 points in three matches, including two outstanding tries against England, make him one of the top performers at the World Cup.
GELLED QUICKLY
Though Foley plays at state level with the New South Wales Waratahs and Genia at the Queensland Reds, the duo have gelled quickly at national level.
"We train so much together, we’ve had so much time together, so you have plenty of time to develop those combinations and understand each other's games," Genia said.
"From a halfback point of view, it's been quite seamless and I've really enjoyed the opportunity to play with Foles."
For Foley, being given the chance to combine with Genia fulfilled a personal ambition.
"For a number of years I had a lot of admiration for Will, watching him play, so I knew his style of game and hoped it would work with my game," Foley said.
"Hopefully, we can grow this combination. We can take it to another level for sure."
On Sunday at Twickenham Genia will come up against another of the tournament's form halfbacks in Scotland's Greig Laidlaw, whose individual performance at scrumhalf did much to get the Scots past Samoa and into the last eight.
"He’s their skipper and their goalkicker, and I’ve heard he's been playing very, very well," Genia added.
"He leads his side incredibly well and he’s kicking well, too. Hopefully he doesn’t play too well."
(Editing by David Goodman)
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