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20th Jun 2013

Lions Watch: Rocky tries to quieten Lions roar and Israel Folau’s crazy career takes a new turn

Rocky Elsom is beloved by a lot of rugby fans on this side of the world but his comments on the Lions won’t go down well, while at 24, Israel Falou has already packed about five sporting careers into one.

Conor Heneghan

Rocky Elsom is beloved by a lot of rugby fans on this side of the world but his comments on the Lions won’t go down well, while at 24, Israel Falou has already packed about five sporting careers into one.

Rocky sticks the boot in

Plenty of Leinster fans will hear no bad word said about Rocky Elsom after his heroic feats in a blue jersey during his brief sojourn in Dublin, but some of those fans won’t be happy to hear the former Wallaby indulging in some stereotypical Aussie trash talking ahead of the first test with the Lions on Saturday.

In an interview with Peter Bills in the Irish Independent, Elsom was asked who he thinks will win the test series and, in true Australian style, he didn’t beat around the bush with his response.

“I think for me, the boys (Australia) would be my pick. Without a doubt,” Elsom said.

“The Lions have a pretty good habit of losing and that’s a big factor in the equation. The Wallabies are on home soil and the vital first Test is in Brisbane, an excellent place for Australia to play. And if the Lions lose the first Test it’s going to be very difficult for them to come back. OK, it can happen, but the pressure starts to mount if you lose the first Test.

“So, I am very confident about the guys winning on Saturday. It wouldn’t be the first time Australia has played extremely well at SunCorp stadium.”

While we’d never have the guts to rebuke Rocky to his face, there are some holes in his argument.

Firstly, it is a bit harsh to judge the current Lions side based on the exploits of their predecessors and besides, the Lions did win one of the three tests the last time they toured Down Under 12 years ago.

The venue of that victorious Lions test win? Well it wasn’t the Suncorp Stadium but was in Brisbane (The Gabba) so the Lions don’t have a bad record there either and they did beat the Reds in the Suncorp Stadium a couple of weeks back.

Something’s got to give this weekend.

Israel Folau’s crazy career takes a new turn

Winger Israel Folau is one of three debutants in the Australia side that will line up against the Lions in Brisbane on Saturday and for those of you not familiar with the 24-year old’s rather eventful career to date, it makes for interesting reading indeed.

Having started out in rugby league with the Melbourne Storm, Folau wouldn’t be the first player to switch codes throughout the course of his career, but few if any have tread the path followed by Folau, who managed to fit in a season in Aussie Rules with Greater Western Sydney before moving to the NSW Waratahs in Super Rugby at the end of last year.

His constant code-hopping means he’s not the most popular amongst AFL and Rugby League supporters and has had to face jibes about being a greedy money-grabber, but Robbie Deans isn’t worried about him making his debut in such an important match, although the logic behind Deans’ confidence is skewed to say the least.

“Israel is not really a debutant because he’s played international sport before,” Deans said.

Well, we know it’s a completely different scenario because rugby league and union are pretty similar but Michael Jordan’s basketball prowess didn’t much help him on the baseball field, but we won’t go too hard on Israel in case we find ourselves, Alan Partridge style, with a knife and fork and a plate with some words on it if he makes us eat them after a devastating debut on Saturday afternoon.

Lions coverage on JOE brought to you in association with Kellogg’s, official cereal & snack provider to the IRFU.

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