The 'freak' Wallaby Aaron Smith says gave All Blacks 'nightmares'

Former All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith admitted that facing ex-Wallaby Israel Folau was one of the most daunting tasks for his New Zealand teammates during Test season.

Smith described the challenge of playing against Folau on an appearance on the Ebbs and Flows podcast, highlighting the fullback’s ability to change games and beat defenders, meaning that much of the All Blacks’ video analysis surrounded how they were going to shut down the threat the cross-code athlete posed.

Folau – who played for the Wallabies from 2013 to 2019 – remains one of Smith’s most feared opponents in rugby according to his reflections on him during the recent podcast apperance.

“I played Israel Folau for years and holy…bro, he would cause us nightmares. He could win the air, two metres above, and he would get line-breaks, score heaps of tries against us, he was a freak.

Fixture

Rugby Championship

South Africa

31 - 27

Full-time

New Zealand

All Stats and Data

“And like man… pure gifted. Things just happen and there were certain players like that: The Sonnys [Sonny Bill Williams], the Carters [Dan Carter], Folau…man. They just changed the game.

“How many tries he scored in the short amount of time that he did play rugby [union]. We had a D [defensive] stat once, if we took out Folau’s tackles we would have tackled at 94 per cent, which is pretty high for rugby. He made us miss 12 by himself.

“We won that game but if he would run across, step, fend, offloaded, break tackles, did it all… When we played rugby and the league convert, he was the guy… we had whole clips and minutes on him: Where is he? How do we hide him? How do we find him? How do we make him make tackles so he can’t cover? He was the weapon for them [the Wallabies],” said Smith.

Folau’s size, speed and athleticism made him a constant threat, leading to many sleepless nights for the All Blacks as they prepared to face him.

“When we were on the sideline and box kicked, we’d swap them to be there, so we’d have Folau alert: if he’s left, we kick right and land it on [Bernard] Foley or Quade [Cooper], sorry brother, because you can’t win it [the box kick].

“He wouldn’t really pass, so we’d always make sure if we were defending him if he offloads or passes, sweet. If you don’t respect him running… but you can’t stop the goodies. He would still find tries, he’d still get intercepts, he’d still find a way to score. They’d kick to land it on a ten too and he’d win the air. You can’t keep the good ones out, you’ve just got to make them have quieter games then their dominant games.”