Izzy off to NRL? There’s no hope
ISRAEL Folau yesterday admitted he felt his time in rugby was over at times this season before the headspinning four-year deal that will now earn him a cool $3 million-plus as a Wallaby and NSW Waratah.
The matchwinner knocked back shorter mega-deals in France, Japan and England to commit to the contract with Rugby Australia and his Super Rugby home in Sydney.
Folau did not reveal any of the contract numbers or even that it had been finalised when interviewed in the heart of Tokyo yesterday but he did confirm he had made “a longterm commitment” to Australian rugby.
He will start at outside centre for the first time in his 70th Test on Saturday against the All Blacks in Yokohama and promised he could step up defensively in the front line as well as roam in attack.
The backline ace will be a nine-year regular in rugby for the Wallabies and NSW when his new deal expires at the end of 2022 and should routinely smash the 100-Test milestone.
The deal essentially snuffs out the “Izzy: NRL Coup” headlines for good because he’ll be 33 when this contract is up.
His code-hopping days are over. The April fallout from his clumsy social post referencing “hell” for gay people “unless they repent of their sins and turn to God” was a polarising period even when Folau said he had “no phobias”.
“At some stage I didn’t think I was going to be in the game but those thoughts always chop and change,” Folau said after two hours signing autographs and having photos taken with Japanese fans at Tokyo’s Asics store.
“I base everything around my faith and belief in God ... I tend to go wherever he wants me to go.”
Folau will be in the hot seat on Saturday against the All Blacks. “I’m confident in having to defend there up front and doing it in league helps,” Folau said.