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No appeal by Israel Folau: contract torn up by Rugby Australia

Israel Folau. (Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)

Israel Folau’s multi-million dollar contract is to be torn up by Rugby Australia after he failed to lodge an appeal before the 72-hour window expired.

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Wallabies fullback Folau had until Monday afternoon to appeal his high-level code of conduct breach and sanction over his religiously-motivated but controversial social media posts.

“As Folau has not notified the panel of his intention to appeal, the code of conduct process has now formally concluded,” Rugby Australia said in a statement.

“With the code of conduct matter complete, Folau’s employment contract will be terminated.”

It is not known whether Folau will accept the loss of his four-year contract or now pursue the matter in court, as has been speculated.

Last Friday a three-person panel found Folau’s contract should be terminated after his Instagram posts, including one proclaiming hell awaits “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters”.

That came after Folau had been warned against making such posts before signing his new contract last year. He’d previously posted that hell awaited homosexuals unless they repented.

Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle said at the time the decision would have ramifications across the sporting world.

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“This is a decision that will change the landscape for sport across Australia and perhaps internationally,” she said.

“It will be landmark, it will be important, and it is a big decision.

“He is a very important player in our game and he has been for a long period of time and we wanted to make sure we took the time to get it right.”

AAP

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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.

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