Folau still a burden for Wallabies
The Israel Folau burden hangs heavily over the Wallabies Rugby World Cup campaign and not even a title might be enough to heal the wounds of the star’s dramatic demise.
That’s the lingering feeling across the Tasman as Michael Cheika’s squad look to push on in a 2019 season that hasn’t included the fullback after he was sacked for posting religiously-inspired homophobic comments on social media.
The mess is far from resolved with Folau taking the issue to court. ‘‘If the Wallabies perform disappointingly at the World Cup, Folau will become the biggest what-if story at the tournament, re-igniting debate over Rugby Australia’s handling of the issue,’’ rugby correspondent Brett Harris wrote in the Australian edition of The Guardian.
‘‘No one will ever really know for sure whether the Wallabies would have been better with Folau or not. But whether the Wallabies win the World Cup or not the threats and abuse over Folau’s sacking will most likely continue at least until the matter is resolved in court or quite possibly well beyond that.
‘‘Folau may be gone, but he has not yet been forgotten.’’
Harris suggested the Folau controversy ‘‘was arguably the greatest distraction that a national rugby team has ever endured and while the Wallabies say they have moved on, few Australian players would have been untouched by the furore one way or another’’.
They had managed the situation well during the Rugby Championship and the Bledisloe Cup series with the All Blacks. But the wound had reopened with Cheika’s recent admission that he had received threats and abuse from angry fans over Folau’s sacking. ‘‘You could not blame a player for wondering whether the Wallabies would be a better team with Folau in it and whether they would have more chance of winning the World Cup, even if the thought was at the back of the mind. Fans have been asking themselves that very question,’’ Harris wrote in The Guardian.
Folau’s attacking threat as a strike weapon was ever-present and he was without doubt the best Wallabies player under a high ball. ‘‘No one will really know how much they miss Folau until the World Cup is underway,’’ Harris wrote.