Isileli 'Israel' Folau

Israel Folau is arguably Australia’s most successful cross code footballing athlete.

Born in south-western Sydney to a devoutly religious Polynesian family Folau, the third son of five (he also has a sister, Mary), faced testing social challenges as a youth. "It was kind of a rough place for a young kid. I guess I'm pretty lucky. I had a lot of friends who I grew up in the area with and now some of them are in jail," Folau said. "I could easily have been like that [in jail with them]. I think I was lucky that I had sport.” And sport proved lucky to have Folau.

He played rugby league for the Minto Cobras alongside future NRL star, Kangaroo and two-time Dally M medallist Jarryd Hayne before the family moved to Brisbane. Folau graduated from Marsden State High School in 2006 and his yearbook quote read: “Playing football for Australia”. Later that year he was selected to tour England with the Australian Schoolboys rugby league side.

In 2007, as a 17-year-old, Folau debuted in the NRL for the Melbourne Storm where he took all before him and won the Dally M Rookie of the Year, broke the record for most tries in a debut year (21) and became the all-time youngest Kangaroo (18 years, 194 days). In total Folau played four seasons of NRL (Melbourne Storm 2007-08; Brisbane Broncos 2009-10) in which he scored 73 tries from 91 first grade appearances and seven tries in eight State of Origin games for Queensland.

In June 2010 Folau announced a switch to AFL when he signed a three-year, $4.2 million deal with the Greater Western Sydney Giants. Folau later revealed that he was convinced by his father to take up the AFL offer, saying it was "too good to turn down". Thirteen games and one season later the AFL experiment, one that received mixed reviews at best - “brave but ultimately ill-fated” - ended without fanfare. “With one signature, I went from the top of the NRL to the bottom of the AFL,” Folau later wrote. He simply “wasn’t very good at this new sport” and that it left him “emotionally broken”.

Late in 2012 Folau made a highly publicised move to rugby union where he became an overnight sensation. After just 14 Super Rugby caps Folau made his international debut against the British & Irish Lions and scored two tries. The first of those tries extended a record that may never matched - he had scored a try on debut for every professional team for whom he had played.

Folau’s career went on to become something of a highlight reel. In 2013 he equalled Lote Tuqiri's record of 10 tries in a Test season. In 2014 he started all 14 internationals and along the way broke Chris Latham's record of 17 consecutive Tests as run-on fullback.

The 2015 RWC should have been his to dominate however that ambition was cruelled by injury. Folau rolled his ankle in the third pool match of the tournament, the 33-13 win against England, and was forced to wear a moon boot. Despite passing a fitness test on Thursday prior to the all-important fixture against Wales, he admitted to not being 100% fit. That fact became more evident as the game wore on with Folau’s movements becoming ever more laboured. Having carried the injury for two weeks, Folau felt pain in the joint and failed to complete the team training session ahead of the Scotland quarter final. As a result, and after 36 caps, he missed his first ever game through injury. Scans later revealed his ankle required surgery

In his Waratah jersey Folau was virtually unstoppable. He scored 60 Super Rugby tries (from 96 appearances) which remained the record until 2024 when All Black #1111 Julian Savea, in his 156th SR match, scored number 61. Folau’s 37 Test tries ranked him equal 3rd all-time when he played the last of his 73 Tests in 2018. He was a three time John Eales Medallist (2014, 15 & 17) and the first player to claim the award in consecutive years. In 2017 he was also shortlisted for World Rugby player of the year.

In 2019, Folau’s contract with Rugby Australia was terminated following an employment dispute. He then played rugby league for the Catalan Dragons (202) before a return to rugby in Japan with the Urayasu D-Rocks. Late in 2021 World Rugby relaxed its eligibility rules to allow a player to represent another country after a stand-down period of three years. The following year Folau was selected in Tonga’s squad for the four-team Pacific Nations Cup. He debuted for the ‘Ikale Tahi against Fiji only to injure his hamstring in the opening half. In 2023, Folau was left devastated after his World Cup dreams were dashed when left out of the Tongan squad after he failed to overcome a persistent knee injury.

Israel Folau played 73 Tests for Australia in his six-year international career.

Highlights

2013 Won his first Test cap at right wing in the run-on XV for the 1st Test against the British & Irish Lions. Folau became the 89th Wallaby to score a try on debut. He played in all fifteen Tests, the first five on the right wing and the final ten as full-back. Over the course of the year Israel scored ten Test tries to equal Lote Tuqiri’s all-time Australian single season record set in 2004.

2014 Started at full-back for all fourteen Tests and in the 10-28 2nd Test loss to South Africa in Cape Town he broke Chris Latham’s Australian record of 17 successive caps as run-on No.15. For a second season running Folau finished the year as top Wallaby try scorer (7). Beat Michael Hooper by more than 80 votes to win a first John Eales Medal.

2015 Won a further nine Test caps but in what was a frustrating year only managed to score a single try. Extended his consecutive run of Tests at full-back to 28 before he was left out of the side to play the United States in Chicago. Folau became just the third player after George Smith and Nathan Sharpe to win the John Eales Medal for a second time and the first to win it in consecutive years. Selected to his first Rugby World Cup Folau’s impact on the tournament was negated by an injury to his left ankle picked up in the pool match against England.

2016 Folau played in all but one Test through 2016 - against France in Paris - as he earned fourteen caps. Won his 50th Test cap in the 23-22 defeat of Scotland at Murrayfield but missed equalling Michael Hooper’s Australian record for the shortest time span to 50 caps by a single day.

2017 Folau cast aside two lean seasons on the try scoring front to set the rugby world alight in 2017. Doubles in the first three Tests of the season were followed by a try in each of the three Tests against the All Blacks, a feat only achieved once before in history (1998 - Matthew Burke). He finished the year with twelve tries from just ten Tests and went on to claim a record third John Eales Medal. In a surprise move he decided to skip the end-of-season tour and during a rare break from the game married fiancé and Black Ferns netball star Maria Tutaia.

2018 He started 11 of the Wallabies’ 13 Tests and finished with a team-leading five tries. A small muscle tear in his lower left leg / ankle forced him out of the second Bledisloe and the 23-18 win over South Africa in Brisbane.