Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson admits Israel Folau saga hit hard in tight losses

Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson doesn’t want to use the Israel Folau saga as an excuse for his side’s underwhelming season, but he has conceded the fullback’s talent could have altered a string of tight losses.

Israel Folau’s sacking hit the Waratahs hard. Picture: Mark Metcalfe

Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson has distanced himself from his players who are blaming Israel Folau for the team’s disappointing results this year.

But while Gibson says the off field distractions around Folau’s sacking aren’t a legitimate excuse for the team’s failures, the former All Black did concede that the season could have been very different if he had played all year.

“Obviously, losing Israel on the field, that has a big impact,” Gibson said.

Israel Folau’s sacking hit the Waratahs hard. Picture: Mark Metcalfe

“He’s a world class player. If you look at the stats, consistently over the last six years that he’s played, he’s scored between 11-15 tries a season.

“So that’s a pretty big impact, particularly when the margins this year for us have been in and around that five point mark, so that’s a try a game and making that up is going to be difficult.”

While the Waratahs still have a mathematical chance of making the playoffs, it’s that frustrating run of close losses that has cost them dearly.

Daryl Gibson won’t use Folau as an excuse for the Tahs’ poor season. Picture: Mark Metcalfe

Of their nine defeats, six have been by less than seven points, and their biggest losing margin has been just 11 points.

Both halfback Nick Phipps and hooker Damien Fitzpatrick said the constant noise about Folau had hurt the Waratahs during matches but Gibson disagreed.

“The impact of not having him on the field is fairly obvious. As I discussed earlier, his ability to score points for us over the years has been excellent,” Gibson said.

“In terms of the personal impact to the team and the players, I can’t speak on behalf of the team and different players and how they’ve reacted, but certainly it’s been a dominating story and one that’s taken up a lot of time but it can never be an excuse to perform.

“We still have to go out and perform our scrums and our lineouts, all the elements of the game that need to perform.

“When you look at those very close margins and the games that we just lost, it’s usually because we haven’t quite nailed a moment in the game that we’ve lapsed so you can’t attribute Israel to those moments.”