Folau avoids cup clash

Rugby Australia (RA) will avoid a potentially embarrassing distraction during the Wallabies’ World Cup campaign after their legal fight with former star Israel Folau looks set to stretch into the new year. Folau’s unlawful termination case against his former employers RA and the NSW Waratahs has been set down for a potential three-to five-day trial in the Federal Circuit Court on February 4 next year. The date means Australia’s World Cup campaign will proceed without trial hanging over them, although it will collide with the start of the Waratahs’ new Super Rugby season. However, Federal Circuit Court Chief Judge Will Alstergren made it clear yesterday that the parties would be expected to attempt mediation by the middle of December.