Folau eyes growth in tough times
ISRAEL Folau learned a painful lesson to trust his instincts after a half-hearted intercept attempt led to him being skinned for a try by young All Blacks flyer Rieko Ioane.
Folau opened up on his embarrassing defensive miss as the fullback also said the unfancied Wallabies “have nothing to lose” in the second Test in Dunedin.
Of all the Wallabies’ missed tackles at ANZ Stadium last Saturday, two summed up the defensive meltdown – Samu Kerevi’s cold miss on Ryan Crotty and Folau’s error in letting Ioane get around him in the 17th minute.
Kerevi’s was an individual error and Folau’s was a result of a system gone haywire – the Australians had five defenders covering two attackers. Folau revealed he’d been caught out because he was indecisive.
“I was in two minds at the time, I was thinking about the intercept and I came up,” Folau said.
“The pass obviously beat me and he finished really well. I got beaten fair and square. He’s a great young talent.
“It was a good lesson for me to just back my instinct and go with what I was thinking in the first place, as opposed to being in two minds.
“I was thinking about the intercept but then I thought (Beauden Barrett) was shaping up for a grubber behind, which kind of changed my stance. It was a learning curve for me.”
Folau felt terrible after the try but he quickly put it out of his mind, and later managed to score a try and set up another. Folau believes in the power of positivity and using the tough times as valuable lessons.
He admits the dominance of New Zealand has the potential to wear him and his teammates down, but Folau believes times of difficulty are where the most progress gets made.
“It can get frustrating and draining, after years and years of not getting a result,” he said.
“But I try to look on the positive side in that if you are not going through challenges, there is no growth.”