Origin Rugby: Israel Folau says he’d play for NSW ahead of Queensland
BORN in Sydney, schooled in Brisbane, five-time Maroons star and Waratahs stalwart — who does Israel Folau represent in Origin Rugby?
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ISRAEL Folau has triggered the first allegiance stir of the mooted Origin Rugby blockbuster by saying he’d wear the sky blue of NSW rather than the Queensland colours he wore proudly in rugby league.
State eligibility is a muddied, emotional area of debate for State of Origin rugby league and it will be the same if the audacious idea of an Origin Rugby clash comes off for Thursday, June 29 at Ballymore or the SCG.
Queensland Rugby Union chief executive Richard Barker said a meeting of rugby chiefs last Friday in Brisbane had given a unanimous vote to proceed with a detailed financial model before further thought is given to it leaving the drawing board.
Folau played his five league Origins for the Maroons (2008-10) and is as confused as anyone about how his state rugby allegiance would be resolved.
Just last month, he said: “Being a Queenslander, I don’t feel like it’s right if I put on that blue jersey.”
It’s a head-spinner for Folau because he was born in Sydney’s west, played for the Queensland and Australian Schoolboys rugby league team from Brisbane’s Marsden State High and was selected in league for Queensland.
All his rugby union exploits have been as a NSW Waratah since 2013 and he’s never played rugby for a Queensland senior club.
Folau seemed a little wrong-footed when the Origin Rugby question landing in his lap after the Waratahs were on Sunday the first side eliminated at the Brisbane Global Rugby Tens despite scraping home 14-12 for their first pool win over the Melbourne Rebels.
He’s uncertain about whether Rugby Origin is a goer or even his state allegiance.
“I know the (Origin Rugby) idea is being tossed around,” Folau said.
“Until it comes to life then I’ll start thinking about it more.
“I’d probably play for the Waratahs. Obviously, it’s a different code (to my league allegiance) and I’d put the sky blue jersey on.”
Added Barker: “We haven’t even started on eligibility rules but he (Folau) told me on the weekend ... Queensland.”
Former Wallaby Berrick Barnes left Suncorp Stadium after Japan’s Panasonic Wild Knights bowed out in the quarter-finals with a huge vote of support for an Origin Rugby experiment.
“We’ve seen with the Tens a lot of people criticised it and I’d say the general consensus was it was pretty damn good,” Barnes said.
“So, why not give it a crack? We’ve got to explore avenues in rugby and it’s time we start looking at it.
“We don’t know unless we try.”
Waratahs assistant coach Nathan Grey was measured with his embrace of Origin Rugby and certainly not to the detriment of the traditional Queensland-NSW battles of the border that have been played for over a century.
“In terms of highlighting our game, it (Origin Rugby) is another way to show it off just as the Tens have been a very good example,” Grey said.
“If you start throwing around comparisons with league’s State of Origin and history that’s crazy.
“You look at the interstate rivalry for the Templeton Cup and the Cup is revered by both states and the players ... that’s our equivalent of Origin.”
Originally published as Origin Rugby: Israel Folau says he’d play for NSW ahead of Queensland
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