Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie defends ARU decision to stand down Israel Folau

EWEN McKenzie has defended the ARU’s decision to stand down Israel Folau, as Michael Cheika revealed he had no idea when the Tahs star would return.

WALLABIES coach Ewen McKenzie has defended the ARU’s decision to stand down Israel Folau, as Waratahs coach Michael Cheika revealed he had no idea when his star fullback would return.

The ARU made the controversial call to rule Folau out of NSW’s clash with Western Force on Saturday night, despite the star fullback having been cleared to return from a throat injury by Waratahs medical staff.

“This has been a long process, over a number of weeks, and it’s involved a lot of doctors,” McKenzie told Rugby Central on Fox Sports.

“You’ve got to remember the Waratahs have been in different places.

“Everyone wants him to play, but in the end you’ve got to consider the player’s welfare.

“In the interests of the welfare of Israel, nothing else, a decision was made.”

Earlier, Folau revealed his frustration at having been ruled out by the ARU’s medical staff despite having not been contacted.

“What is extremely frustrating for me is that nobody from the ARU spoke to me before ruling me out,” Folau told News Corp.

“I wish they’d given me the courtesy of at least calling me before making a decision that impacts my playing career.”

A frustrated Israel Folau watches on from the sidelines at Perth’s nib Stadium.

McKenzie said the ARU would look into the “process”, but reiterated that Folau’s health was the most important factor.

“We can sit here and talk about the process of who spoke to who, in the end the idea is to focus and channel the information through one source, which is the team doctor, and that’s how the process works,” he said,

“The decision’s made to protect his welfare.

“(ARU chief executive) Bill Pulver spoke to him (after he was ruled out). We’ll obviously review the process and we’ll review both sides of the process — we’ve obviously heard about one side of it.

“We’ve been involved in the process the whole way the last couple of weeks. There’s been lots of phone calls that have gone between doctors in that process. Who talks to the player, how many people talk to the specialists, we’ll review all that.

“In the end, the only motivating factor here is in the best interests of Izzy. That’s why the decision was made.”

After the match Waratahs coach Cheika said he had “no idea” if Folau would be available for his side’s next clash — against the Bulls at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.