Folau set to become Australian rugby's greatest try scorer

As Israel Folau went over for his hat trick of tries on the weekend, a whole bunch of things were made apparent.

Not only did it equate to the Waratahs making the play-offs, not only did it yet again show that Folau is indeed world class, but it also confirmed that Folau is a true try-scoring great.

With eight tries from his first Super Rugby season and a tournament equal high 12 tries from his second, Folau has been one of the top few try scorers in Super Rugby these past few years.

Now perhaps it is because of a change in team tactics that has seen him sit among the competition’s best in terms of try assists, but it appears Folau has only personally troubled the scorers five times this season.

Of course this does not mean he has had a poor season to date. Folau is currently at the top of many other tournament stats, as he invariably has been for three years now.

Folau’s 2015 in Super Rugby
Carries: first place
Metres gained: first place
Offloads: first place
Defenders beaten: second place
Clean-breaks: sixth place

This kind of tournament stat topping by Israel Folau has been consistent and impressive ever since he started in 2013. The only thing obviously different from the past few tournaments is that he is not among the top ten try scorers in 2015.

This fact had me do a little digging.

Why is it that anything less than amazing from Folau will not do? I think it is because when you dig into his past, you see that he truly is a phenomenon.

For some time Folau had been sitting on 22 tries for the Waratahs in Super Rugby. Last week’s hat–trick has moved him from fifth into equal second place on the all-time Waratah Super Rugby try-scoring list.

This from just three seasons! It is truly remarkable no matter how you look at it.

On the weekend he surpassed fellow great Waratah full-back Matthew Burke’s tally of 24 tries, but from 34 less matches. He equalled Lachlan Turner’s record of 25 tries but from 27 less matches, and he is now just a mere four tries away from Lote Tuqiri’s record of 29 tries – having played 45 less matches to date.

Top Waratahs try scorers
1. Lote Tuqiri 29 tries (89 matches)
2. Israel Folau 25 tries (44 matches)
2. Lachlan Turner 25 tries (71 matches)
4. Matthew Burke 24 tries (78 matches)
5. Scott Staniforth 23 tries (63 matches)

It is not just his deeds in Super Rugby for the Waratahs that makes him a true try-scoring great. Folau has quickly amassed 17 tries from 29 Test matches for the Wallabies which already sees him in 15th place on the all-time Wallaby try scoring list.

Sure these numbers are not in the stratosphere of the amazing winger Julian Savea but of course it is much harder to score from fullback or the centre channels where Folau plays most of his rugby.

What is also remarkable about this is that he has only played two seasons of Test rugby yet he has already scored a lot more tries than players like James O’Connor and Kurtley Beale. In fact all of the players above him on the list and a lot who sit under him on that list have played a substantial amount more Test rugby.

His place in that list is so out of place that it is almost ‘Bradmanesque’.

Of course when discussing Folau as a try scorer we should not forget the phenomenal rate that he scored tries in the NRL. From 91 matches he amassed 73 tries in the NRL. What stands out for me is that after a record-breaking rookie season for the Melbourne Storm in terms of tries scored, he continued to dominate.

Folau scored 36 tries from 52 matches for the Melbourne Storm and he followed this with the super-human effort of 37 tries from 39 games for the Brisbane Broncos. I believe that had he stayed in the NRL, considering that he began scoring tries in that competition at the age of 17, he’d likely have finally knocked off Ken Irvine’s remarkable record of 212 tries.

For trivia buffs this was set way back in 1973 and no one has come close to it since. I suppose we will never know.

We must not forget that Folau also scored at a fantastic rate in his short representative rugby league career. His six tries from eight Tests for the Kangaroos and his five tries from five State of Origin matches are the numbers of a true try scoring great.

Seemingly we have the rugby gods to thank for that because Australian rugby has not seen a player with as much try-scoring nous as Israel Folau since David Campese.

If Folau continues on his try scoring heroics at Test level and plays close to as many Tests, I doubt even Campese’s record of 64 tries from 101 Tests for the Wallabies will be safe.