Folau no show at Barcelona training session
Israel Folau has pulled out of a Catalans training session with the Sydney Roosters in Barcelona.
The controversial star was said to be feeling sore following his comeback Super League game. Folau played his competitive game of professional sport last weekend when he made his debut for Rugby League outfit Catalan Dragons.
Catalan Dragons coach Steve McNamara: “He feels like he’s been run over by a bus.”
Folau’s return to league was a resounding success on the pitch, where he scored a try within six minutes of coming on. in Catalans victory over Castleford Tigers.
However, off the pitch, controversy is still stirring. In the UK Conservative peer Lord Hayward has called on the club’s sponsor, to ditch the star. Lord Hayward, who founded the world’s first gay rugby club, wants sportswear maker O’Neills to end its association with the club over the controversy.
Earlier this month McNamara defended his signing, saying his controversial recruit deserves a second chance and should not face a “life sentence” for his homophobic comments.
The French club caused a furore when they ignored the Super League and the Rugby Football League’s pleas by signing Folau on a one-year deal after he was sacked by Rugby Australia in May for claiming “Hell awaits” gay people on social media.
But as Folau looked set to play his first rugby league game in 10 years McNamara claimed he had no problem with the 30-year-old, saying if he had reservations he would not have offered him a contract.
“This is the Six Nations tournament and in the Six Nations tournament there is no room for these kind of remarks.”https://t.co/9IoCqAKDQM
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 20, 2020
“From the outside you know the headline, not the person,” he told BBC Sport.
“My job was to find out about the person, the complete person. I did that with thorough detail.
“If I had (reservations), I wouldn’t have signed him.
Super League clubs were livid over Folau’s Catalans deal and recently voted at a meeting last week to implement measures that gave them more power to veto “controversial” signings in future.
And some of Catalans’ rivals have organised LGBT celebrations at their home games when the Dragons visit.
Careful Eddie! https://t.co/dYZkIz6y2h
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 20, 2020
But McNamara claimed Folau was a “good personality” and had created “positivity” in his Dragons squad since his arrival.
“I (believe) he deserved the opportunity, it shouldn’t be a life sentence what he was given,” he said of Folau’s signing.
“We researched Izzy as a person completely, as a coach my decision was based around his rugby league ability, his ability to add positivity to the dressing room and to really increase our opportunities of winning.
This is how you sign off.
Thank you @dantuohy5 for the refreshing honesty. https://t.co/NQUYyaqVw1
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 20, 2020
“It was based around that and him being a good personality.”
Catalans star and England international Sam Tomkins said Dragons teammates had already accepted Folau after the dual international showed “what sort of person he is” upon his arrival.
“We wanted Izzy to come in and prove what sort of person he is, he came in spoke to everybody on the first day and trained brilliantly since,” he said.
“He put his position across, (he was) very open, not hiding anything and he said if anyone wanted to speak about anything at all, he’s more than willing.
“All the boys know they’ve got that if they need to, he’s very approachable.”
– AAP, additional reporting RugbyPass
Comments on RugbyPass
Less modern South African males predictably triggered.
10 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
78 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
78 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
5 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
10 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
2 Go to comments