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Israel Folau targeted on social media in wake of Wallabies victory
By Ian Cameron
In the wake of the Wallabies record-breaking six-try effort against the All Blacks, it was never going to be long before thoughts turned to Israel Folau.
It was always going to happen.
The 47 points conceded by the All Blacks was the most in their history - against any opponent. Conclusion? They're not a bad team without the controversial Folau.
Former Wallaby Peter FitzSimons - an outspoken critic of Folau - was quick to stick the boot in.
"There was a player missing ... I can't remember, what was his name? Is it Israel? What happened to that bloke?"
Twitter was even less forgiving.
However, some defended Folau amid the barrage of gleeful taunting.
Indeed All Black Ben Smith called it before the match, suggesting Beale posed a bigger threat to the All Blacks than the former NRL and AFL star.
"He (Folau) is a world-class player ... but Kurtley Beale has got that same X-factor, and he's a quality player too," Smith said.
"Kurtley Beale is pretty dangerous. He has a good sidestep."
Press conference: England flanker Tom Curry ahead of his side's game against Wales on Sunday. He says he's confident that he's done everything he could to earn a place in the side Eddie Jones takes to Japan, saying it would be a 'boyhood dream'.
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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