Why the return of Israel Folau will be a blessing for Michael Cheika

It was a special night. Even though I am not an Australian, I could sense an intangible, special feeling in the air from the moment the Wallabies ran on to the field in their beautifully-designed Indigenous jerseys, and Shannon Ruska began the most heart-felt Welcome to Country speech to date.

That was the night the Wallabies finally overcame the All Black jinx, by 23 points to 18 in Brisbane.

Michael Cheika and his coaches struggled to regain the magic of that evening on the subsequent tour of Europe, beating Wales in the opening game but losing heavily to both England and Scotland afterwards.

Cheika was missing a vital piece of his puzzle, one which has been present for every Australian coach since the series against the British and Irish Lions back in 2013 – Rugby League and AFL convert Israel Folau.

Every Australian supporter who has been clamouring for Folau to be either dropped completely, or at least shifted from full-back also had an opportunity to see what ‘life without Folau’ would look like on that tour.

The results were not very encouraging, and there is little doubt that Cheika will welcome Folau ‘back to country’ with open arms for what promises to be a spiky three-Test series against Ireland in June 2018.

Christmas is a time of beautiful yet bittersweet stories, and it is as good a time as any to dispel some of the myths surrounding the play of the best Australian back of his generation.

Two of the narratives which have become very popular – but which nonetheless deserve debunking – are that:

– Folau lacks the application and technique to defend well near his own goal-line or in critical situations, and

– Folau cannot attack well on right-to-left movements, where the chances to use the lethal sidestep off his right foot tend to be far more limited.

On the evidence of the third Bledisloe game at Brisbane, neither of these criticisms have a great deal of substance.

First, to defence. While there are some areas of Folau’s defensive game which could do with fine-tuning, his defence in the red zone and in the scramble after the line has been broken are not two of them.

When he is up on the end of the line in defence, Folau tends to handle that difficult role with some finesse and excellent reading ability.

His anticipation of play and ability to disguise his intentions were showcased right at the opening of the second game of the season between Australia and New Zealand in Dunedin back in August.

New Zealand are on the attack and threatening to score right from the opening kick-off, and they develop a likely-looking overlap out to their right with one of two key distributors, #15 Damian McKenzie ready to pass the ball.

Disguise is everything in these situations, and in the first frame Folau is partially hidden behind the defender inside him, Henry Speight, from McKenzie’s view.

He doesn’t rush up and block out the pass, he stays ‘under cover’ waiting for the New Zealand full-back to reveal his hand before breaking on the ball.

After he does make the intercept, he has more than enough speed to finish the play off, despite the attentions of Ben Smith and Beauden Barrett.

There was another good example of Folau defending the edge well early in the second half of the game in Brisbane.

Once again, the All Blacks have a temporary three-on-two overlap in this attacking phase only a few metres out from the Australian goal-line. At the two key moments, Folau alters his stance and makes the right decision.

It looks at first from Folau’s stance (with outside foot up) that he wants to break in on the McKenzie pass again, but by the second frame he has measured the space accurately, can see he won’t get there in time, and has dropped off into a short drift (inside foot up).

When Marika Koroibete makes the tackle on Ryan Crotty, Folau is therefore free to jackal for the ball on the floor, and he slows up the New Zealand ruck sufficiently to force a timing issue on the next phase, the pass from Aaron Smith finding grass with the pressure relieved. Australia turned the ball over later in the sequence.

Folau’s work in scramble defence shows that he has the grit to go with his intelligence.

Naholo has broken the first line of defence from a lineout move, but when Crotty goes to make the key pass out of contact which would convert “clean break” to “try” he finds Folau blocking the passing lane!

The Wallaby full-back is successfully blocking out not one, but two unmarked Kiwi attackers outside him, Lima Sopoaga and Rieko Ioane.

The ball was spoiled at the ensuing ruck and Australia escaped unharmed from a situation where New Zealand would typically expect to put their opponents away with clinical precision.

Here New Zealand have made a long break up the right side-line and, as the last line of defence, only Folau stands between Aaron Smith and an All Black score.

A desperate ankle-tap sends Smith tumbling to the floor and captain Kieran Read is penalized for an illegal cleanout on Kurtley Beale at the next ruck. Meanwhile, Folau has reloaded in time to compete for the ball on the ground against Sam Cane.

The other major criticism of Folau, that he does not attack with anything like the same impact on the left side of the field as he does on the right, also lacked foundation at Bledisloe III.

Two of Australia’s tries came directly from right-to-left movements in which Israel Folau was the key attacker.

See tries in the 39th and 55th minutes.

It is hard to find anyone else in the world who can match Folau’s ability to attract the last defender – either delivering a scoring pass or taking the gap himself – so consistently.

The example at the end of the first half is relatively straightforward, with Waisake Naholo outgunned by Wallaby numbers on the left edge of the field and Folau able to take the gap between him and Liam Squire.

But the second instance is a thing of beauty. New Zealand have numbered up, with Naholo marking Folau on the inside shoulder and McKenzie covering Koroibete further out.

The following two frames illustrate Folau’s genius on the flank where he is supposed to have no tricks up his sleeve.

New Zealand have what they want defensively – almost. It is a straight two-on-two with Naholo and McKenzie marking Folau and Koroibete.

But it is only ‘almost’, because Folau has space in which to operate. Naholo is inviting Folau to take the outside, and perhaps surprisingly, Folau has the acceleration to take it.

His first three strides – quicker than you’d expect from such a big man – enable him to turn the corner around Naholo, engage McKenzie’s eyes and create enough space for Koroibete to finish the move.

A sequence in 43rd minute reinforced the impression that Folau’s ability to attack down the left-hand side is just as potent as it is on the right.

Again New Zealand seem to have all the bases covered defensively. They have two defenders bracketing Folau and he can’t use his right foot step.

But Folau uses a move off his ‘wrong’ foot instead to beat the first (Sonny Bill Williams), and his strength to bump off the second (Sopoaga), before delivering a wonderful offload to put Koroibete away, just as he hits dirt and his run seems to be dying.

Summary
There is no doubt that Australia missed Israel Folau badly on their end-of-year tour.

They missed his telepathic interplay with Kurtley Beale and Bernard Foley on attack, but they also missed his ability to play in areas of the game where – according to some popular opinion – he is supposed to be deficient!

His accurate defence on the edge of the field was crucial on two or three occasions to Australia’s success against New Zealand in Brisbane, and his capacity to attack right-to-left created two of the Wallaby tries.

Folau is as close to being an irreplaceable asset as there is in the Australian side, and Michael Cheika will welcome his return to the national team as an unreserved Christmas/New Year blessing.