Genia: Aussies haven't played their best yet

Will Genia has warned the British and Irish Lions that the best is yet to come from Australia with the rivals ready to decide their drawn series at ANZ Stadium tomorrow.

Only three points have separated the teams in two nerve-jangling Tests and another epic encounter is expected in Sydney when they collide one final time.

The general perception is that the momentum of the series has shifted towards Australia and Wallabies ringmaster Genia is convinced they will full throttle when it matters most.

“I’m very confident that we haven’t produced our best performance yet,” the scrum-half said.

“We can honestly say that we probably haven’t played our best rugby throughout the series so far.

“We’ve probably made too many errors to give ourselves the opportunity to play any sort of fast-flowing rugby.

“We were able to do that in the last 20/30 minutes of the Test in Melbourne and we’ll take a lot of confidence out of that moving forward.

“I expect tomorrow to be a really tough contest. Whether the scoreboard reflects that or not, we’ll just have to wait and see.

“There’s not been many points scored but there’s been a lot of intent, hence a lot of errors on our part last week and on their part as well.”

Australia face a Lions backline that is missing four-time tourist Brian O’Driscoll, who has been dropped with head coach Warren Gatland preferring the all-Wales combination of Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies.

The 34-year-old Ireland centre’s Lions career is over and it may be a call that comes back to haunt Gatland if events at the ANZ Stadium do not go his way.

“It was obviously disappointing I guess in a sense for Brian,” said Genia.

“You would have loved to have seen him have that fairytale finish emotionally, but Warren said he made the decision based purely on rugby and he left his heart out of it.

“I guess you’ve got to give him respect for that. He’s gone back to combinations of guys who have done well for him in the past.”

Australia have made one change to the side that prevailed 16-15 in Melbourne last weekend with 110-Test veteran George Smith, 32, selected at openside after a four-year international exile.

“George is a freak and is in great shape. He’s running around like he’s 21,” Genia said.

“He’s got great enthusiasm and great respect from people in the game. He just offers so much, with his experience and his ability at the breakdown.

“For a lot of us, and for me in particular, he has an aura about him. To have him in your side means a lot.”