The Growden Report
Call me Israel! Waratahs king reclaims his crown
Greg Growden
March 23, 2015
Waratahs 28-13 Brumbies (Australia only)

He's baaaaaack!

After a miserable start to the week, when Australia learned the Wallabies had slipped to No.6 in the World Rugby rankings, there was relief at the end of it when Israel Folau reminded all of his vast footballing prowess. Wallabies hopes have been revived.

Australian rugby's biggest draw card certainly chose the right moment to end more than a month in the doldrums, the fullback proving himself the master showman in the most important Australian derby of the Super Rugby season so far.

Big names invariably dominate big encounters, and that was certainly the case when Folau was the standout in the Waratahs-Brumbies match on Sunday; several of his inspiring attacking manoeurers were instrumental in enabling the defending champions to get their season at last back on track.

The Test fullback had endured a pretty rugged season: he had been targeted by oppositions, received little to work with from his team-mates, and even suffered a strange bout of the fumbles against Queensland Reds; and the Highlanders took great pride in effectively containing him in Dunedin. But back on home turf after numerous weeks away, Folau acted as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with his make-up, his approach, or his form. He again played as if he were king of the rugby world, making endless breaks, producing deft passes to put others away, and often showing there are few who can surpass him when speed, precision and footballing intelligence is required.

Israel Folau crossed the stripe to cap a superb performance in Sydney © Getty Images
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Folau ensured the scores were leveled at 13-all when he easily weaved around Wallabies centre Tevita Kuridrani to put Bernard Foley away. Six minutes later, Folau was scoring his first try in six matches when he and centre Matt Carraro combined to get through two lines of Brumbies defence. That short period of attacking dominance set the tone for the rest of the match, guaranteeing a substantial Waratahs victory, and Folau instigated the best moment of a high-quality game in the final minutes. He took play from one end of the field to the another with a wild 50-metre gallop, and was involved again during a string of passes that finished with hooker Tolu Latu scoring in his first starting appearance.

As crucial to the Waratahs was the performance of several other big names who had recently gone missing. Wycliff Palu and Michael Hooper lifted their work-rate, while Will Skelton, who according to teammates has been suffering from a loss of confidence this year, appeared far more willing to rip opponents' heads off. Jacques Potgieter is still some way off his best, having yet another game where he suffered from handling indiscretions, but there was at least several of his trademark fearsome charges to again make oppositions nervous. And Latu was up to the onerous challenge of covering for injured hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau, to be among the Waratahs' best.

These are all encouraging signs for the Waratahs, but they do not yet mean the Tahs are the best Australian franchise. The Brumbies have this season been the most composed and thorough of the five Australian provinces - but they could not get enough possession to be anything more than an occasional threat against the Tahs. Nor did dubious refereeing decisions early in the game help the Brumbies; it was ridiculous that one of their most important forwards, Scott Fardy, had to go to the sin-bin for supposedly deliberately knocking the ball on. The folly of the decision was even more glaring as it was made by Craig Joubert, supposedly the best referee in the world; that certainly wasn't a world-class ruling.

The afternoon of good expressive football was also blemished by complaints during the second half from David Pocock, who alleged that Waratahs players had made homophobic slurs.; if true, the dinosaurs guilty of such puerile remarks should hang their heads in shame.And if it is true, the Waratahs are the day's losers, not the winners.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd

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