Israel Folau making waves in the Super 15 preseason

Could be the next SBW. Big, fast, skillful. A real handful top deal with on defence. I'm guessing he'll take a while to adjust, but he's looking ominous.

Fill me in please bc. Who does he play for, what position exactly and where has he come from, i.e. age group? We could certainly do with some cover in centres in the medium future.

Can we have Rhys Llewellyn back please if you have this new guy?

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Fill me in please bc. Who does he play for, what position exactly and where has he come from, i.e. age group? We could certainly do with some cover in centres in the medium future.

I thought he was Australian?

I agree BC, he's flippin awesome the way he moves. Big, balanced and looks like hes cruising. Never took much notice of him previously or in League but this boys going to turn heads as SBW did. Centres or wing he'll have to be surely.

Very, very impressive so far. Already 3 tries in the 2 warm ups (though one good thing they did lose to the Blues who are also looking good with the youngsters all putting their hands up).

Blues are going to be heavily Youth- Pacific Island based this year- more than ever it seems- something that could make the top of the table very exciting if they also get the required structure from GH and JK.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Fill me in please bc. Who does he play for, what position exactly and where has he come from, i.e. age group? We could certainly do with some cover in centres in the medium future.

I thought he was Australian?

yep. he used to play NRL a few seasons ago. was sensational but was mainly due to scoring lots of tries from catching bombs. AFL threw a lot of money at him and he defected there, was hopeless so has turned to rugby with the Waratahs (looked like going back to league but salary cap issues stopped it)

I'd add that he's a Queensland state of origin and Australian representative as well. He's no mug. He's big 6ft 2 inches and around 100 kgs. To my mind he's a bit more multi dimensional than most converts. He can step and break tackles, he's relatively quick, he's great under the high ball, he's set tries for other's in top level league through grubber kicks and given he's just come off a 2 year AFL contract his kicking out of hand skills must be better than average. He could potentially play anywhere from 12 out. It's a question of whether he can adjust to the game.

Opposition coaches have already said he's a handful to deal with on defence. I think his main attribute will be his threat in the air. If you have him out wide, you are going pull defenders across the field.

Here's some league footage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnqo0ypxgnY

He's been making an impact through his stepping, breaking tackles and off loading so far this year. Kirwin said he's areal handful following the last game against the blues. He's outside chance for Australia this year.

http://tvnz.co.nz/rugby-news/blues-hurricanes-snatch-late-pre-season-wins-5337757/video

here's some video from tvnz and comments from Kirwin below.

http://www.superxv.com/video/waratahs-vs-blues-trial-highlights-super-rugby-video-highlights/waratahs-vs-blues-trial-highlights-super-rugby-video-highlights-video_385be1949.html

It's still pre season so it's a bit loose. But you see the potential.

He's got a bit of toe, great in the air and looks a handful close to the line. Cheers for the video BC. I thought he was one of us playing for the Blues. He could be a real handful if he learns the game. Lord knows Australia could do with some punch in midfield. Cheers for the vids.

his highlights from the trials looked promising, but apparently his first game in the S15 was "mixed"

anyone see it? how did Izzy go? Any chance of taking on the Lions?

Shifty wrote:Can we have Rhys Llewellyn back please if you have this new guy?

Capped by NZ sevens. Good luck to him, he's made his choice because he obviously enjoys his rugby and lifestyle down in NZ.

Did anyone actually watch the game???

Without watching much of his career in league I have to admit I thought he was pretty average if not disappointing.. But for his first game it's quite a decent stab and he will improve. His try was an easy run in and he almost stuffed it up. Otherwise it was quite uninspiring.

League guys always seem to have a better knack of finding a gap ala Robinson, Rogers and Ashton... But Folau looked pretty easy to read when he had the ball and the defence wasn't ever troubled.

The other wing vola vola or something ... He was awesome, cameon as sub for debut, scored a guscott esq try where he seemed to effortlessly glide to the try line from the half way line and put in some telling offloads and additional runs.

Now that's a kid with talent and probably on a contract 1/10th of falau's.

Its early days fa. Hes never played the game so to start at sxv is some ask. It took SBW 2 years to really get the hang of it and in that time he was playing the position better than most. All anyones commented about is his potential, which is huge.

Taylorman

Not saying he isn't going to be a great union player, only that I thought his first game was difficult and to be honest... playing him at 15 rather than the wing was a little odd... threw him into the deep end. But he didn't do too bad.

Thought the other debutant wing was awesome though... and that 18yr old for the kings looked sharp too.

I think that he should have played a bit more rugby before jumping into super level. SBW played in France and then for Cantebury before playing for the Crusaders.
He had a mixed game, ran across the field (as happens in League a bit) a bit too much I thought.

Could be great, but looked pretty poor the other night. Not sure what his pedigree is like but sounds impressive, he definitely doesn't look anywhere the physical level of SBW. Looked a little ungainly in fact.