Folau catches on quickly
Code-hopper Israel Folau is catching onto the rules of rugby - his third football code - very quickly, according to Waratahs assistant coach Alan Gaffney.
The 23-year-old is preparing for the 2013 Investec Super Rugby season with the Waratahs, where he's said to be settling in terrifically while making the transition from AFL to rugby union.
And Gaffney has been impressed with Folau during the club's pre-season training.
"He's just a footy player, as you'd say," Gaffney told Sportal on Monday.
"He just runs fantastic lines, he understands - obviously there are elements of the game where he's got to get a lot more learning, obviously like in the breakdown area.
"But in saying that, the fact is he's just a very instinctive player and he catches on very quickly, as we'd probably all expect."
Folau is expected to be tried on the wing, but there's some stiff competition for him in that position with Drew Mitchell, Lachie Turner and Peter Betham all in contention.
Gaffney believes the healthy competition for places in the starting 15 is a good headache for head coach Michael Cheika to have.
"There's a lot of good players there at the present time," Gaffney said.
"Knowing Cheika and the way he's worked in the past this is going to be done not on names, but on form and the way guys commit themselves at training.
"Everyone's digging at the present time, but that's where it's going to be decided."
It's a big year for Australian rugby, with the British and Irish Lions touring the country in June and July.
Folau has indicated his desire to play for the Wallabies against the Lions, but his Waratahs team-mate Turner says it's more important to focus on playing regularly for your club.
"The ultimate goal for anyone is to play for their country and it's a little hard to do that if you're not playing for your state," Turner said.
"That's where it starts, you've got to play for your state and we've got some really healthy competition here."
The Waratahs play a series of warm-up matches next month, which will give an indication of where the team is at ahead of the Super Rugby season.
