Christian Lealiiifano has his nose back in front in the race for the first-choice Wallabies playmaker role after Bernard Foley’s Rugby World Cup struggles were highlighted by coach Michael Cheika.

Lealiifano will start at five-eighth outside Nic White in the most scrutinised area of the team named to face Uruguay on Saturday.

The same combination struggled in the first half of the opening win over Fiji but it was the same story for Foley and Will Genia in the subsequent loss to Wales.

Foley, a tournament star in 2015, was hooked in the 44th minute, leaving questions over Cheika’s preferred combination.

The chance to hand Matt Toomua the No.10 jersey after two bright bench showings was shunned on Wednesday by Cheika, who will start the utility back at inside centre.

“Bernard, I think that he struggled a little bit on the weekend, no doubt about that, and Christian, he found his feet pretty well in the Test matches this year,” Cheika said.

“Matt Toomua’s played very well there as well in finishing for us.

“Bernard is working hard to get himself back into the team. He’s been training hard and he did some good things on the weekend. Other things he’d want to improve on.”

While Lealiifano could nail down the berth with an improved showing against the lowly Uruguayans, Toomua said he hasn’t given up on getting a chance there against Georgia a week later nor in any knockout matches.

The 49-Test veteran admitted to disappointment he wouldn’t get a starting shot at five-eighth, with Samu Kerevi clearly the man to start at inside centre in the big Tests.

“We’ve chopped and changed a little bit there (five-eighth) for various reasons and my goal is always to get a starting spot,” Toomua said.

“Samu has done a good job at locking down that 12 spot.”

Meanwhile, Cheika gave no clue about his favoured starting halfback, saying he still wanted to divide time evenly between his only two candidates, White and Genia.