Folau loses his sponsored Land Rover

Land Rover have taken back their sponsored car from controversial Australian rugby player Israel Folau.

The car was part of an $850,000 deal Land Rover had with Rugby Australia, according to Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

Land Rover, which said Folau was never an official ambassador, repossessed the car after Folau’s antigay sentiments on social media.

In February last year, Dan Carter was dropped as a brand ambassador for Land Rover following his drinkdriving incident in France.

Folau won’t be catching the bus to training any time soon, though — he still gets around in his $500,000 Lamborghini, bought last year.

Land Rover’s withdrawal of the car is the first financial hit Folau has taken for his fundamental Christian stance.

The 29-year-old Wallabies and Waratahs fullback followed up his initial comment with a video on Twitter warning that tolerance of homosexuality would be punished by God but Rugby Australia has not sanctioned him due to the complex moral issues around free speech.

While RA disagrees with Folau, chief executive Raelene Castle said they also must respect his right to express his religious beliefs, adding that penalising him would alienate a section of their Christian support base.

Meanwhile, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said Folau would refrain from posting further inflammatory content for the sake of his teammates as they prepare for the three-test June series against Ireland.

“What’s happened has happened, it’s been dealt with now and it’s not going to be ongoing, so it’s not going to be an issue,” Cheika said. “There’s been a lot of conjecture on this from all different sides. But we need to be focusing on the footy, and getting ourselves clear on a big series against the Northern Hemisphere champions.”