Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Genia the latest Wallaby to turn on 'selfish' Folau

Will Genia after the Wallabies defeat to the All Blacks in Sydney (Getty Images)

Wallabies vice-captain Will Genia has slammed international teammate Israel Folau and believes he’s played his final Test alongside the controversial star.

ADVERTISEMENT

Rugby Australia issued Folau a breach of contract notice following repeated homophobic social media posts, but the 30-year-old will fight for his career at a code of conduct hearing next week.

Genia admits teammates will struggle to play alongside Super Rugby’s all-time leading try-scorer if the NSW fullback successfully overturns his sacking.

Folau vowed to walk away from the game if Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle felt the situation became untenable and he has been labelled a hypocrite for calling the hearing.

Genia said Folau was being selfish and emphasised the Wallabies could still win the World Cup this year without arguably their best player.

Continue reading below…

Video Spacer

“You can have your beliefs and have faith … but you can’t go around trying to tell people they’ll be going to hell because they are a certain way, for me that’s completely wrong,” Genia told the Fox Sports’ Rugby Podcast.

“I certainly think it makes it a bit uncomfortable for people within both those teams (NSW and Australia) and environments to sort of relate to him and moving forward maybe even play with him.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I’m probably resigned to the fact I won’t play with him again.

“If you’ve gone and said those things (walk away from the game) to (Wallabies coach Michael) Cheika and Raelene, there’s a breach of trust and I guess there’s an element of selfishness about it.”

Melbourne Rebels coach Dave Wessels predicts Folau’s rugby career will soon be over and says the sport will be poorer for his absence.

Wessels takes no pleasure from the absence of a player he rates as a modern great from Saturday’s derby in Sydney, where the Australian conference-leading Rebels will tackle the Waratahs.

Folau has been stood down by the Waratahs, replaced at fullback by Kurtley Beale.

ADVERTISEMENT

“He’s a hell of a player. For him to be lost to Australian rugby is sad,” Wessels told reporters.

“I don’t know him personally … but what I do know is that he’s the No.1 try-scorer in the history of Super Rugby. He’s probably one of the leading entertainers in the game in the world.

“I just don’t think there’s any winners out of it. I certainly don’t think rugby’s won out of it.”

Wessels suspects Folau’s absence and all the controversy surrounding may prove to be a galvanising force for the Waratahs this week.

He said he would take that angle if he was in the same position as counterpart Daryl Gibson

“But the reality is they’ve lost an absolutely world class player there. It’s not just for one or two games, it’s forever. It’s sad.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

N
Nickers 36 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

41 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ The joy, spirit and obstacles of the rugby pilgrim The joy, spirit and obstacles of the rugby pilgrim
Search