Raelene Castle concedes Israel Folau saga hurt Wallabies’ Cup campaign
Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle has opened up on the negative impact of Israel Folau on Australia’s World Cup campaign, as well as the breakdown with former coach Michael Cheika.
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Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle has taken aim at Israel Folau for disrupting Australia’s World Cup campaign by putting his views above those of the team.
A series of controversial social media posts led to Folau’s sacking in May, with Castle declaring the saga contributed to the Wallabies’ underwhelming tournament that ended with a heavy loss to England in the quarter-finals.
“I certainly don’t think it’s helpful,” Castle told ABC’s Radio National.
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“I think when you’ve got a player who chooses to put their views in front of the views of the team and we end up with headlines and people writing things about Rugby Australia as opposed to writing about the rugby, that’s never helpful. Of course it’s not.”
Castle said RA had made the right decision to terminate Folau’s contract because it was in the best interests of the game in Australia.
“It’s a positive thing from a culture perspective.”
Castle also opened up on the breakdown of her relationship with former coach Michael Cheika, pointing to a change in selection as a major factor in the decision.
“It’s not ideal, coaches and CEOs often have quite difficult relationships,” Castle told Macquarie Sports Radio Halftime.
“That’s the nature of the engagement that we’re in and certainly the changes we made for the long term benefit for the high performance program and on the back of Michael being at a 50 percent win rate, we felt it was the right decision to make and Michael’s on the record that he wasn’t 100 percent comfortable with those changes.
“Scott Johnson was the person who took that mantle to make sure he was the person dealing with Michael on a regular basis.
“Michael reported directly to Scott and it was Scott and Michael that were leading for the discussions.
“We worked together fine for the last two and a half years and with the changes that were put in place Michael was uncomfortable with those as he said publicly.”
Originally published as Raelene Castle concedes Israel Folau saga hurt Wallabies’ Cup campaign