Steven Hansen defends Israel Folau selection for World XV as he backs decision to fly pride flag at Twickenham
Former Wallabies full-back Folau was sacked by Rugby Australia four years ago for a series of homophobic and offensive social media posts.
The 34-year-old has managed to relaunch his rugby union career in Japan, and will represent Tonga at the autumnās World Cup in France after completing the stand-down period to transfer allegiance to another nation of his heritage.
Ex-New Zealand boss Hansen defended selecting the controversial Folau in his World XV squad ā then also backed the RFUās decision to fly the pride flag at the home of English rugby in Sundayās Barbarians match.
āI think itās great, itās a consequence of Folauās selection and I think itās a good thing,ā said Hansen of the RFU flying the pride flag this weekend.
āItās an opportunity to show support to that flag. I donāt have a problem with it, I think itās great.
āThere wouldnāt be one there if Israel wasnāt playing so whenever we can bring attention to people who are suffering in a positive way I think thatās good. They deserve to be loved and cared as much as anybody else.ā
Folau remains among the gameās premier backline talents despite his advancing years and the extreme public airing of the controversial views cost him his Australia career.
Hansen was a part of New Zealandās back-to-back World Cup wins in 2011 and 2015, and still commands respect as one of the sportās foremost coaching minds.
The 64-year-old insisted he does not share Folauās beliefs, but defended his right to select the powerful backline operator.
āIsraelās a very good rugby player, and I know by picking him that there will be some people hurt,ā said Hansen.
āAnd I get that. However, I want those people to understand that Israelās beliefs and his views are not ours. And we donāt agree with them.
āBut heās a rugby player first and foremost and heās been sanctioned, those sanctions have finished, heās playing rugby, heās probably going to go to the World Cup so my job is to pick the best team I can pick, and thatās what Iāve done.ā
Steve Hansenās World XV take on the Barbarians at Twickenham
/ Getty Images for BarbariansHansen believes the World XV-Barbarians clash can hand rugby a morale boost amid an ailing club game and finances also struggling in the southern hemisphere.
With the game still battling to improve player welfare and general safety, Hansen urged rugbyās lawmakers to have greater belief in the gameās fundamentals.
Asked if rugby has enough confidence in itself, Hansen replied: āThatās a good question. If you keep giving red cards out, people think the gameās dirty, so itās imploding upon itself.
āSomehow weāve got to bring a more common-sense approach to finding a solution rather than just a penalty.
āI wonder if we do this because we want to be able to say āwell at least weāve done thatā if we then go to a court hearing? Thatās pretty cynical of me to think like that, but I canāt help it because red cards are not fixing the problem.
āIs the data saying we are getting fewer head knocks by doing what we are doing at the moment? I donāt think so.ā
