‘Folau could have broken his leg’

Editor

Waratahs coach Michael Cheika and full-back Israel Folau were both angered by Rayno Benjamin's attempted trip on the star last Saturday.

Benjamin lashed out with his foot to try and stop Folau as he went over for his hat-trick, with Folau reacting angrily at the time before actually apologising himself for his reaction to the incident.

That aside Benjamin's act was clearly reckless and he was shown a yellow card, with Cheika admitting that the rash action from Benjamin could have had major consequences.

"I was very disappointed because it could break a guy's leg," Cheika told RugbyHeaven.

"The referee took a good action. He took the time to look at [it] … he could have let it go because a try was scored.

"I don't know if [Benjamin] did it by just instinct or whatever … but that could have broken his leg. That is a very dangerous thing to do."

Folau was also aware that he could have come off a lot worse, but has moved on and was also delighted to bounce back after being disappointed with his performance the week before against the Lions.

"I mean something bad like that could have happened, but I guess I am lucky that something serious didn't happen. It's all good," said Folau.

"I was pretty disappointed after the Lions game.

"I felt I let myself and the team down. I wanted to turn things around. I thought the team performance was great. I was lucky enough to feed off that energy and get some space out wide.

"Saturday was probably the first game where I found myself in a fair bit of space out on those wider channels."