Israel Folau was one of the greatest athletes ever to grace professional rugby. Tall, elegant and effortless, he never ploughed the same earthbound furrow as mere mortals. He glided over the ground as if navigating some invisible thermal, two inches above the surface of the grass. He seemed to hang in the air for improbable, Michael Jordan-like moments in time. The finger of God informed his footballing intuition.
And yet, had Folau been born a New Zealander, it is unlikely he would ever have displaced his contemporary Ben Smith for the All Blacks. Smith’s talent lay in his unrelenting desire to master all aspects of rugby football. And master them he did – the kick and the kick-chase, the pass-master, the defensive groveller at the breakdown, a last line of smart defence as impregnable as Rorke’s Drift.
Where the tri-sport Wallaby hovered slightly above the game, aloof from the mundane and the down-and-dirty, the All Black was the ultimate professional. When the sun shone on Folau, nobody burned brighter with its effulgence; but Smith was truly a man for all seasons, a master of every situation, come rain or shine. Folau may have been an oval-ball genius, but Smith was the more complete player.
The Wallabies could just have stumbled on their own ideal in the shape of Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii. The signing of the Sydney Roosters star from the NRL may yet turn out to be the best bit of business during ex-RA chairman Hamish McLennan’s hit-and-miss tenure, culminating in a disastrous 2023 World Cup exit at the pool stage.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii made an instant impact on the Wallabies’ November tour of Europe (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
McLennan was characteristically melodramatic when he claimed back in 2023: “The criticism of [Suaalii] and the deal is crazy. Before he pulls on a jumper, he has generated over $50 million [AUD] worth of publicity for rugby… and the first time he plays for the Waratahs in front of a full house, he pays for himself. It’s a no-brainer.”
It is rare indeed a player so new to the sport attracts comment, let alone praise from one of its established stars, but Beauden Barrett did not hesitate. Maybe he even sees something of his own younger self in Suaalii:
“Look, he changed the game for the Wallabies last year on the northern tour. [Speaking] as a rugby fan, it was great to see him come over from league and play so well. We are all aware in New Zealand what this guy can do with the ball. It’s great for the game, and great for this competition.”
How do you justify the hype? Claims such as McLennan’s only begin to make sense if the player’s work ethic and humility match his talent level. The signs are in Suaalii’s case, the stars are aligned. As he commented in the Waratahs’ pre-season:
Suaalii helped inspire Australia to a stunning win at Twickenham (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
“If you want to be the best, you’ve got to take a harder route.
“You’re not going to be the best just playing one position. I am a big believer that learning all different positions can make you better.
“I feel the more I accumulate that knowledge, the better I’ll be as a player.”
‘Taking the harder route’ for Suaalii meant switching from his November tour position of centre with the Wallabies, to full-back for the Waratahs’ opening fixture against the Highlanders in Sydney. It took Folau a full four years to move in the other direction, from the back three to centre in New South Wales, and a further two before he was selected there for the Wallabies, so Suaalii is well ahead of the curve.
It is a solid indication of his willingness to experiment and learn the basics of rugby at this level – the Smith way. There will be mistakes for sure, but the improvements will be incremental. And at the end of the road lies the holy grail of completeness.
The move also makes sense for Waratahs head coach Dan McKellar, who can pair his best two centres [Joey Walton and Lalakai Foketi] together in midfield, while fielding a potential Wallaby back three of the future in Andrew Kellaway, Max Jorgensen and Suaalii.
In the event, the Waratahs claimed one of a clean sweep of three Australian victories in the first round of Super Rugby Pacific, in the very last minute of the game. A Brumbies side featuring six debutants became the first Australian team to win in Fiji with a last-gasp 36-32 victory over the Drua, and the Western Force won a 99-point nailbiter in stoppage time against Moana Pasifika, Ardie Savea and all. The times, they may just be a changin’ for Australian rugby.
At his league home ground in Sydney, Suaalii enjoyed his first taste of life in a sky-blue backfield:
“I reckon the intensity was more here in Super Rugby [compared to international Rugby] if I am being quite honest. I was talking to Jake Gordon about it; just the ball-in-play, the contact and the Highlanders boys were ready to play today.
“I got hit a couple of times, but it was good. It’s a high level of footy we’re playing here, especially against those Kiwi boys…I’m just glad we got the win.
“I actually enjoyed being able to see the game at 15, and just being able to scan and see from a different perspective [than you get] from centre.
“It’s more running compared to centre where you’re tackling a little bit more. It was a lot of high-speed running, so I still need to get the kilometres into my legs, but I felt pretty good out there.”
One of the criteria for a player who truly has the appetite and humility to learn about the game is their attitude to adversity, when the key planks in their performance do not function as well as expected. At Twickenham in November, Suaalii had enjoyed a field day reclaiming kicks; not least from restarts, not least in direct opposition to England’s new skipper Maro Itoje.
Against the Highlanders, he was not part of the NSW planning from kick-offs, and he only regathered one of six contestable kicks versus a Highlanders backfield defence which had obviously done its homework.
That reclaim was in only the second minute of the game, and Suaalii went 65 minutes without winning another. Neutralising a player’s point of difference can have a debilitating impact on performance, but not that of Suaalii. He simply focused on contributing in other ways.
One of Australia’s areas of relative weakness has been last-line defence after a break. None of Tom Wright, Kellaway and Jorgensen are great defenders in one-on-one situations.
At 6ft 2ins tall and tipping the scales at 107kg, Highlanders centre Tanielu Telea is not an easy man to stop in full flight. The modern method in these scenarios is for the defender to stay as square and high as possible in contact, to deny both the run down the sideline, and stop the offload to support on the inside. None of the other three contenders for the Wallaby 15 jersey have the size and physicality to manage both, but Suaalii is able to drag Telea down while effectively blocking the pass in contact.
On attack, the most promising Wallaby pointer was the fast-developing relationship between Suaalii and his 20-year-old mate in the back three, left wing Jorgensen.
Suaalii and ‘Jorgo’ are likely to be involved against the British and Lions in July, and their final interaction down the left illustrated the essential difference between Folau and the rising star.
One the weaknesses in Folau’s game which was never really addressed was his presentation [and protection] of the ball on the deck after a tackle, and opponents knew how to exploit it. If he won the ball in the air, they just waited for him to come back to terra firma before taking it off him. In this instance, Suaalii is alert to the need to win ‘the fight on the ground’ immediately and present quick ball despite the Highlanders’ efforts to tie it up near the goal-line. It’s a small detail, but it’s one Smith would appreciate.
They say top players in any sport are also role models for the young. Back in April 2019, Folau’s contract was terminated by Rugby Australia abruptly when he “expressed [religious] beliefs inconsistent with the values of the sport. We want to make it clear he does not speak for the game with his recent social media posts.”
As outrageously-talented as he was, Folau was no Smith on the field either – if improvement in all areas of play, and the consistency of professional habits are the measure of a man. Twelve years after Folau’s sensational first appearance for the Wallabies, Australia may just have found a new hero in another Lions year, in the shape Suaalii.
The ex-leaguer is open to experimenting with different positions, and he wants to peer into every nook and cranny, learn every last nuance of the game. He expects to be the best, and he is prepared to take the more testing fork in the road to get there. His first game in a Waratahs jersey was one baby step to the ultimate goal, and there are many more to come.
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Author : rugby-247
Publish date : 2025-02-24 22:11:38
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