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Israel Folau scores on return to Australian rugby league
By AAP
Israel Folau scored a try on debut for the Southport Tigers, as the controversial multicode footballer made a return to rugby league in the Gold Coast third-tier competition.
Having last played the 13-man game for the Catalans Dragons in the English Super League last year, Folau could have been excused for being rusty but did some good things for the Tigers who downed Runaway Bay 38-28.
Folau beat two defenders and carried another two players over the line with him in a fine finish to a second-half movement and had been unlucky not to score after reeling in a towering bomb in the first half.
The 31-year-old was deemed to have been held up, a decision he concurred with.
Still, he played a strong part in what was an upset win at Owens Park given the Tigers were second-last on the competition ladder.
"It's always good to get on the scoreboard but I was just happy to blow the cobwebs out," he told The Courier Mail.
"The support has been amazing. I was just happy to get back on the field.
"I'm just enjoying playing my footy."
Folau had last played rugby league in Australia in 2010 with the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL.
He will play out the season with the Tigers before heading to Japan to link with Top League rugby union side NTT Communications on a two-year deal reportedly worth $1.8 million.
While showing his extraordinary capabilities by playing AFL with GWS and rugby union for NSW and Australia as well as having a decorated rugby league career, Folau has also been a divisive figure.
He was sacked by Rugby Australia in 2019 for his social media posts which had suggested that homosexuals would go to hell.
Later that year he received an apology from the body and a confidential settlement.
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Latest Comments
A "glider". A great way to sum up Bruce Robertson. I used to love watching him play for the All Blacks as a kid in the 70's and in to the 80's. Also when he played for Counties against my team Canterbury here at Lancaster Park. It was one of the worse selections of all time when he was not picked in the initial All Black touring team that went to Australia in 1980. He got over there due to an injury to someone else. Like Canterbury great and second-five Warwick Taylor , they both knew how to make players outside of them life a lot easier. Crusader great Ryan Crotty the same.
Go to commentsI'm elated by this news. First of all, he doesn't play like his age. He can still hack it. Second, he'll probably be the back up as he is this season, while serving a leadership role and as a fantastic mentor to Will Porter, or anyone brought in at 9.
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