Rugby News: Folau doco setback, Sexton lines up Wallabies, Jantjies reveals Rassie advice after scandal

The ABC’s much-publicised documentary on Israel Folau will not air on schedule.

The doco on the controversial former Wallaby was to air across two weeks, starting Monday November 21 and finishing the week after.

An ABC spokeswoman told the Sydney Morning Herald: “We are still working on the Folau documentary and clearing footage which has meant pushing it back in our schedule. A new transmission date will be announced shortly.”

The documentary was in the headlines last week when comments from his former teammate Samu Kerevi were released by the ABC publicity team.

Kerevi claimed Folau’s teammates were banned from supporting him, while those who opposed him were allowed to air their views.

“We got told from our media teams not to say anything about supporting ‘Izzy’ or saying anything at all,” Kerevi said.

“After those coming days, everyone that didn’t support him was all over the news. They were allowed to be interviewed, they were allowed to say they don’t support the message.

“That’s what annoyed us and made us angry. It’s like ‘Hey, you’re allowing one side of the story to be spoken about and to be supported, but not the other’. How come they’re allowed to speak, and we’re not?”

Sexton has Aussies in sights

Ireland captain Johnny Sexton insists he would rather beat Australia than be crowned world player of the year after confirming his fitness to face the Wallabies on Sunday (7am AEDT).

Sexton missed last weekend’s underwhelming 35-17 success over Fiji due to a dead leg.

The influential 37-year-old has guided his country to a Six Nations triple crown, a historic tour win in New Zealand, the top of the global rankings and victory over world champions South Africa this year.

He was previously named World Rugby’s player of the year in 2018 but, ahead of Saturday’s autumn finale in Dublin, said he was more interested in producing on the field than individual accolades.

“It’s always nice to be recognised like that, I’m not going to lie,” Sexton said of his nomination.

“It’s not something you go searching for but to be recognised in that area is very special.

“I would prefer a win and to play well on Saturday than win that, because ultimately at the end of the day it’s opinion.

“Whereas what you produce on Saturday is what you see and it’s the only thing you can control. All my focus is on that and to be recognised is enough.”

Sexton has been shortlisted for the award alongside Ireland and Leinster team-mate Josh van der Flier, South Africa centre Lukhanyo Am and France captain Antoine Dupont.

The Leinster star suffered his injury in Ireland’s 19-16 win over the Springboks at the start of the month and revealed he initially feared being forced to sit out again this weekend.

“Last week was a bit of a struggle with swelling and fluid and stuff like that,” he said.

“It was just managing that and then making sure I get the right amount of training in this week to be able to perform but also not do too much that swells it up again. It’s good to go, feels good and I’m ready.”

Without a host of important players through injury, including their skipper, Andy Farrell’s men stuttered in an unconvincing victory over Fiji.

Sexton dismissed the notion that the much-changed starting XV was a reserve line-up and believes Ireland have not coped well enough with their current status as the world’s best team.

“I don’t think it was second string,” he said. “I think it was the Irish team.

“And the majority of the first team were playing, that was why it was disappointing.

“There are areas of our game from the South Africa game – I’m not putting it all down to the Fiji game – that teams are going to come after us in a different way because we’re the No.1 team in the world or we’ve got some good results under our belt.

Foley ready for Sexton test

Bernard Foley is likely to start in Australia’s No.10 jersey when the team is announced early Friday morning and he is excited about tackling Sexton.

“This one is a special one testing yourself against the best in the world,” Foley said. “It’s really trying to make the most of it because you don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

Foley will return to Japan after this game with the final Test against Wales outside the international window. It will also be the last game for Will Skelton on tour.

“What a great challenge. It’s something I’m really embracing,” Foley added on his Sexton showdown.

“It shows age is just a number. The thing about Johnny is he’s ultra-competitive and he must be doing everything right to keep himself on the top of the game. He’s looking after his body and he’s got world-class game management and skills.

“We don’t know what players are going to be in the mix [for the World Cup next year]. I’ve got to try and make the most of every game.”

Jantjies responds after scandal

Disgraced World Cup-winning Springboks playmaker Elton Jantjies has opened up on his dramatic fall from grace, revealing he spent two weeks in a facility in Cape Town on the recommendation of Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus.

Jantjies was stood down in September after it was revealed that he was having an affair with the team’s dietician, Zeenat Simjee.

The 32-year-old, who made his debut against Australia in 2012, has not been sighted for the Springboks since and was left out of their end of season Spring Tour.

But rather than the incident leading to the end of his career, the playmaker says the decision to miss the tour was made in consultation with Erasmus to prioritise his family and health before next year’s World Cup defence.

“I don’t think I was let down,” Jantjies told Rugby Pass’s Offload podcast.

“I think the break gave me some time, so it looks like I’m out of the Springboks because of something. But it’s not like that.

“I haven’t seen my family all year, so me and coach Ras had a chat and I agreed with him and I think the time off to spend time with my family, it’s been tough, but I had to do it instead of going on tour because the following year is going to be a hectic year.”

Iva and Elton Jantjies (Source: Instagram)

Jantjies said he would do anything for Erasmus and it was on the back of the 2019 World Cup-winning coach’s recommendation that he checked himself in a rehab clinic in Cape Town.

“I was in a facility in Cape Town just for two weeks,” he said.

“I had a chat to Ras and Ras told me he’s got a spot where I can just switch off mentally and then afterwards I can get a break with my family.

“My main thing was to just switch off from a psychological point of view, especially with all the media coming on.”

Jantjies, who was at the forefront of the Lions’ success in Super Rugby where they made consecutive Super Rugby finals in 2017 and 2018, revealed he was treated with insomnia after struggling to sleep.

“Well, I slept well,” he quipped.

“Me and my wife have been talking about it quite a lot. She says ,‘You don’t switch off, you struggle sleeping because you’re always with rugby, you watch games the whole time, you’re training the whole time, so when are you actually going to switch off? You take sleeping tablets every night when games are on.’

“It was a long stretch where I was trying to sleep and I was struggling to sleep and they treated me for insomnia.

“For two weeks I was off sleeping tablets and I’m still off sleeping tablets, which is quite good.

“But that was not the main reason. The main reason was to switch off from a public point of view because I’ve been followed by people. That was quite scary for my wife.”

Jantjies says he speaks with Erasmus weekly and plans on returning to club footy before hoping to play his way back into the Springboks fold for next year’s Rugby Championship.

Meanwhile the mercurial playmaker said he believed Erasmus was tweeting “for South Africa”.

The famous coach has once again exploded back into the headlines for his social media use, where the former Springboks star has clipped up controversial moments from matches which have highlighted perceived errors from officials.

“At the Springboks we’re old school but we’re also new school,” Jantjies said. 

“We’ve accepted the fact that you get social media and you have to engage with people from different platforms. It’s all factual stuff, so I don’t disagree with that. 

“I don’t want to get into those things because it’s a hot topic at the moment, but I believe he’s doing it for South Africa and doesn’t have his own personal agenda, which is the most important thing.”

ABs seeking revenge

The All Blacks are being driven by their 2019 World Cup loss to England when the two teams meet at Twickenham this weekend.

Codie Taylor, who started that game for the Kiwis, said the loss in Yokohama hurt and was on their minds in the first meeting of the teams since.

“I think we just mentally got outplayed,” Taylor said. “They came at us, and [we] probably got punched in the face a couple of times and we didn’t get out of it.

“But, jeez, we are going to get much of the same this week. And the boys are up for that challenge and what it is going to bring.”

Meanwhile Aaron Smith has said England-New Zealand is a game that “gets the blood going” ahead of what is just their third meeting in eight years

“I woke up on Sunday morning thinking, this is the week, this is where you want to be,” said Smith.

“There’s no better Test than playing England at Twickenham.”

He too has miserable memories of 2019.

“Probably more of a let-down that day for us was not showing up,” he said.

“Everyone talks about how England dominated us, but when you don’t throw a punch and don’t find a way to get back into the game it’s pretty gutting.

“I wouldn’t say that semi-final was all about how good they played, they just had a really good plan and shocked us early and we couldn’t get out of it.

“For some of us in that group there is scar tissue, but this year has been pretty tough as an All Black with some of the turmoil and off-field stuff and the media and everything. It’s probably been worse than that semi-final loss.”

Sevens stars re-sign

Dietrich Roache, Henry Hutchison, Joshua Turner and Henry Paterson have re-signed with the Australian Men’s Sevens team for a further two years.

The re-signings come on the heels of a drought-breaking victory at the spiritual home of Rugby Sevens – the Hong Kong Sevens – as well as a successful 2021-22 season that saw the team win Australia’s first ever men’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

The news is a shot in the arm for John Manenti’s squad as they continue the defence of their World Series crown, and embark upon a critical qualification year for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

“The signing of these four players gives us a huge boost going forward, as we continue to establish ourselves as a fully unified team,” Manenti said.