Waratahs fullback Israel Folau has been ruled out of Saturday night’s match against the Force in Perth by the Australian Rugby Union, following further medical advice regarding his throat injury.
The decision was made by the Australian Rugby Union’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Warren McDonald, and was based on specialist medical advice.
“Advice from our medical specialists is that Israel’s throat injury hasn’t healed to the point where it’s in his best interests to return to play tomorrow night,” Dr McDonald said.
“This is a player welfare issue, which has been the focus of all medical staff involved in this difficult decision, and we’ll continue to work on the plan for his return as soon as possible.”
The ARU’s Chief Medical Officer takes all medical advice into consideration – including evidence from team doctors and external specialists – before making a decision about a player’s fitness to return to play.
Fantasy league round 9 down the drain.
Lose out on double points as he is captain as well.
Thanks for nothing ArU
Michael Cheika has slammed the Australian Rugby Union for its decision to withdraw fullback Israel Folau from Saturday’s clash with the Force.
Folau, who has been sidelined for two weeks with a throat injury, was initially named in the Waratahs’ starting line-up for the match in Perth after being ruled fit by Waratahs medical staff. But the ARU’s chief medical officer Dr Warren McDonald decided to rule Folau out late on friday after receiving specialist advice on the injury.
Cheika said he received a scolding from a disappointed Folau who was keen to play. Cheika also revealed that the ARU had now breached its protocols twice with the Super Rugby franchises by seeking advice on Folau’s condition without first consulting Waratahs team doctor Sharron Flahive.
‘The whole system is predicated on trust, there’s certain jeopardy around that now,’ said Cheika.
He stressed that Folau had undergone through all the medical tests over the past week before being given the green light to play.
‘We’ve got a very experienced doctor who has seen this injury before,’ added Cheika. ‘We’ve put ourselves in the picture with lots of information. It’s not black and white, it’s not like having a broken leg.
‘We’ve also considered the player and I think this is the biggest thing. We’ve been in contact with Israel every day. Last week we didn’t feel he was ready so we didn’t play him.
‘This week he went through all the full contact training. He would have had more contact training on Tuesday than he would have in a game. We went through all the tests that were required and I can tell you that no one from the ARU medical staff has spoken to Israel at all, which you have to think is a bit of a pre-requisite.
‘I had to deal with him last night giving me a gobful because he’s not playing. I didn’t put him out. He’s a very smart guy, he understands what his body can do and where he’s at. From what I’ve heard from him, he’s very very disappointed with the way it’s gone down.”
With Folau out, Cheika has moved Kurtley Beale to fullback from inside centre, with Jono Lance returning to the run-on side to wear the No 12 jersey.
Gosh their whole team has been disrupted, I read this articles headline thinking that this is a good thing and we should do this with guys like jdv and bissie… After reading the article and how badly it went down, it actually sounds like something SARU would do.
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