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Why a Wallabies player 'burst into laughter' at Israel Folau's extraordinary claim
By Online Editors
Peter FitzSimons has rubbished Israel Folau's claims that he could've captained the Wallabies to a World Cup triumph.
Folau, who was sacked for anti-gay comments made on social media this year, is now demanding $14 million in damages from Rugby Australia, claiming he could have been Wallabies skipper.
The cross-code star lodged an updated statement of claim in the Federal Court, where he's increasing his demands from $10 million to $14 million.
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Former Wallaby and rugby writer FitzSimons slammed Folau's latest claims and his "worrying" beliefs about gay marriage and bushfires.
"It just gets ever more absurd," FitzSimons told TVNZ.
"From a distance, I just thought, 'What? Captain?'... but Michael Cheika, who was the Wallabies coach of course, he moved through seven vice captains.
"Now, if Michael Cheika had seven vice captains and Israel Folau wasn't one of them, I think by definition he was a very unlikely man to be captain."
FitzSimons said he told a current Wallaby, who he didn't name, about Folau's captaincy claim and the player "burst into laughter".
"The last time Australian rugby had a fullback as captain was in 1980. It was Paul McLean, it was one Test, and after that the theory in Australian rugby was that fullback was too far from the main game to be the captain, so the tradition in Australian rugby is we don't have a fullback as a captain.
"I find the claim absolutely absurd."
Folau also returned to headlines recently for claiming that Australia's bushfires, which killed six people, were a result of legalising same-sex marriage and abortion, which FitzSimons said was "worrying".
"It doesn't have the closest grip on reality and I worry about that kind of stuff.
"If he actually believes that, then I respectfully submit his remaining friends need to sit him down, give him a hug and say, 'C'mon mate, we've got to get you some help here. This is not real.'"
"https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=12289337">This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and was republished with permission.
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Brett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
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