Folau in shock switch
Sacked from playing the 15-man code by Rugby Australia, Israel Folau is attempting to play rugby league for Tonga in the upcoming Oceania Cup and has made himself available.
‘‘I don’t want to bring any of my personal matters into this and I am grateful that the RLIF have endorsed my availability,’’ Folau said in a TNRL release yesterday.
‘‘What I will do now is focus on playing great rugby league and do my talking on the field.’’
Mate Ma’a Tonga are set to play Great Britain in Hamilton on October 26, before meeting Australia at Eden Park in Auckland on November 2.
The former Wallaby had his multimillion-dollar contract terminated by Rugby Australia over a homophobic social media post in May.
Israel’s bother, John, who was given a release by the Waratahs this season, has also made himself available to play for Tonga in the two tests.
While Folau said the Rugby League International Federation had endorsed his availability, the body itself has not confirmed it.
Tonga coach Frank Endacott told Stuff last night that he hadn’t talked to the Folau brothers, but had been informed that they’d been given clearance to play.
‘‘I haven’t spoken to Israel or his brother John, but I’ve been told by Tongan officials that he is available, that they’ve spoke to him and they’ve put a press release out,’’ Endacott said.
‘‘I read the draft of it, but not the final statement of it yet, but they tell me he’s been passed to play by International Rugby League [RLIF].’’
Endacott said he would not look to speak to Folau until the issue was sorted out with a number of players in the Tongan squad, who have threatened to boycott the Oceania Cup, because they are unhappy of the sacking of the team’s previous coach, Kristian Woolf.
Former Kiwis star Jason Taumalolo and Andrew Fifita have led a Tongan player revolt, wanting Tongan Rugby League chairman George Koloamatangi and secretary William Edwards ousted and Woolf reinstated.
Endacott said he was staying out of the dispute.
‘‘I’ve left all contact with the players to the officials at this stage,’’ he said. ‘‘The players aren’t talking to anyone, so there’s no sense in me ringing if they’re not going to answer their phones. I’m waiting to see how it unfolds over the next couple of days.’’
With the NRL season over in less than two weeks, there’s not much time for Endacott to know which players he’ll have available for the tests.
‘‘We’re running out of time pretty quickly, because you need to do plenty of preparation work for a test match and when you don’t know what players you’ve got, that’s pretty tough,’’ he said.
‘‘I’m hoping that it all gets resolved very quickly and everyone can have an exciting couple of weeks.’’
However, there has been doubt cast on whether Folau will be allowed to make his code switch.
Brad Walter, writing for the nrl.com website, reported that it was understood that the RLIF is set to veto his switch to international rugby league at an upcoming meeting.
It would certainly be a controversial call by the sport’s governing body to allow him to play in the two tests in New Zealand, given his highly controversial comments and there would likely be a backlash against it.