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Media Release: Thursday July 23, 201

Israel Folau teams up with Foxtel
Australian rugby superstar joins the line up as Foxtel rugby ambassador

Foxtel today proudly announced that it has signed a deal with New South Wales Waratahs and Australian Wallabies champion Israel Folau as an official sports ambassador for its extensive coverage of Rugby Union.

The news comes just weeks before Folau is set to take on some of the world’s greatest rugby players in the 2015 Bledisloe Cup and the Rugby Championships, which will air live and with no ad-breaks on Fox Sports, from Saturday 8 August at 8pm.

As the first player in history to have cracked all three of Australia’s major football codes, Israel Folau is no stranger to action on the field and knows what it takes to not just win, but win with style. He is featured in the August issue of Foxtel Magazine where he shares how his eight-year career trajectory has seen him arrive at the pinnacle of world rugby, playing for the Wallabies.

Folau will bring his considerable talent to bear in a series of new marketing and promotional campaigns for Foxtel that highlight the company’s sports leadership in bringing subscribers the best possible sports experience including every game of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, airing live and with no ad-breaks during play starting 5:00am 19 September (AEDT) when England faces off against Fiji. Fox Sports will also feature a dedicated channel devoted to the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

“I’ve been very fortunate to experience a lot of different things in my career so far, but away from the field I’m also a huge sports fan, and no one does it better than Foxtel when it comes to bringing the best in sporting action into Aussie living rooms. That’s why I’m thrilled to join the Foxtel team, to help show everyone what real sports coverage is all about,” said Israel Folau. “With so many great games on the horizon, including the Rugby World Cup, if you have Foxtel you are in for a real show in the coming months.”

Israel Folau started his eight year career with his NRL debut for the Melbourne Storm aged 17, where he broke the record for most tries in a debut season (21), won a Premiership and became the youngest player ever to represent the Australian Kangaroos. He went on to join the Brisbane Broncos in 2009, scoring 37 tries from 39 games and securing his third State of Origin series win for Queensland, before switching from Rugby League to AFL in 2011 where he played for the Greater Western Sydney Giants for two seasons. In 2013 Folau made another highly publicised code-switch, joining the New South Wales Waratahs in Super Rugby, before being fast-tracked to join the national team after just 12 games. In his second season in the 15-man game Folau led the Waratahs to their first ever Super Rugby Premiership and was named Super Rugby Player of the Year, before capping an extraordinary year with the John Eales Medal for Wallabies Player of the Year. In 29 tests for Australia, Folau has scored 17 tries, sending him to 15th on the all-time try-scoring list.

-Brad