Folau breaks Super Rugby all-time try record
AUCKLAND: Wallabies star Israel Folau broke the all-time record for Super Rugby tries with his 60th touchdown for the NSW Waratahs against the Blues in Auckland on Saturday.
The prolific fullback surpassed Doug Howlett's 59 during his stints at the Highlanders, Hurricanes, and Blues between 1997-2007, with the New Zealander needing 104 games to reach his target.
In contrast, Folau set the new mark in his 96th match and will likely run away with the record, having recently signed a new fouryear deal with his club until the end of 2022, putting to bed any concerns that he may move overseas.
The record-breaking try came from a Bernard Foley cross-kick which Folau plucked out of the air to score, although it was not enough to save the Waratahs with the Blues taking the game 32-29.
Folau called it "a huge honour and a privilege" to head a list that also includes Caleb Ralph (58 tries) Joe Roff (57), Christian Cullen, Bryan Habana and Stirling Mortlock (all 56).
"There's some great names on the list. But it's a team effort and without the team those things wouldn't be possible," he said.
Many of Folau's tries were set up by fellow Wallaby and Waratah Foley, who said he knew Folau was something special when he saw him at his first training session.
"He did something freakish down the edge, he caught a ball around his toes and flicked it back inside, and this was a guy who hadn't played with a rugby ball for three years," he told the Rugby Australia website recently.