Israel Folau is back to his freakish try-scoring ways but the depth in Australia’s attack has him feeling less pressure than ever to come up with points.
Folau scored twice in Australia’s 33-28 win over Wales in Cardiff on Saturday to end his longest run without a Test try since exploding onto the international scene last year.
The code-hopping star’s first tries in five games took his record to 17 five-pointers from 26 Tests and underlined his value to the Australian attack.
Folau this week denied he’d lost a little of his sparkle, feeling his scoreless run did not reflect the impact he was having in games.
And he said after Saturday’s win the form of teammates including rampaging winger Tevita Kuridrani and classy playmaker Bernard Foley proved the Australian backline was far more than a one-man show.
“I haven’t really looked at it that way but with Tevita in such great form, that kind of takes a little bit of pressure off me,” Folau said.
“You’ve also got guys like Bernard Foley and Christian Lealiifano that get the pill in their hands and they’re always creating opportunities for the guys around.
“We’ve got great depth. Guys like Quade (Cooper), Matt Toomua and Henry Speight missed out tonight and I think it’s great that everyone’s challenging each other for spots.”
Folau felt the come-from-behind win over Wales showed Australia had already made progress under Michael Cheika in his two weeks at the helm.
While he and Kuridrani scored the five-pointers, Folau felt the win was set up by Australia’s hard-running forwards.
“I thought they did a great job up front. They were very physical and that’s what we need,” Folau said.
Saturday’s win keeps alive the Wallabies hope of a rare European clean sweep.
Not since 1996 under the late Greg Smith have the Wallabies won all four Tests on a spring tour and Folau admitted a shut-out would be in the back of the players’ minds heading into matches against France, Ireland and England.
“That’s the goal obviously but going forward our focus is just on France now,” Folau said.
