Folau fails with ban appeal

Israel Folau will miss the Waratahs’ crunch Super Rugby clash with the Rebels on Friday after failing with an appeal against his one-match ban.

World Rugby suspended the Australia full-back for making contact with Peter O’Mahony in the air during Ireland’s series-clinching 20-16 victory in Sydney last Saturday.

Folau was shown a yellow card before being given a citing commissioner’s warning following two separate incidents involving Ireland captain O’Mahony.

The 29-year-old challenged the governing body’s decision, but did not get the verdict he was looking for on Thursday.

Folau will join skipper Michael Hooper (hamstring) on the sidelines for the clash between the top two sides in the Australian Conference at AAMI Park.

Waratahs forward Ned Hanigan earlier stated that World Rugby could be setting a precedent by not overturning Folau’s ban.

He said: “I think the issue at hand is he’s genuinely going for the ball and it’s the actions that he does when he’s coming back to the ground, but the referees and adjudicators…they’ll finalise it and I honestly reckon it’ll be a bit of a milestone or precedent to what will come in the future, with these types of issues.”

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