Rugby: Wallabies star Will Genia weighs in on 'selfish' Israel Folau

Wallabies vice-captain Will Genia has added his voice to the chorus of discontent over Israel Folau's anti-gay social media outburst.

Speaking on the Fox Rugby Podcast, Genia said he respected the star fullback's views, but completely disagreed with his method of delivery.

"I firmly believe what he did was wrong and how he messaged it, put it out there was wrong," Genia said.

"You can't be out there spreading hate and telling people that they're going to go to hell.

"You can have your beliefs and have faith in what you want to have faith in, but you can't go around trying to tell people they should be going to hell, because they are a certain way.

"For me, that's completely wrong."

Last week, Folau - a devout Christian - used social media to reaffirm his opinion that Hell waited for "drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolators".

Given his warning for a similar incident last year, Rugby Australia swiftly deemed it a breach of contract, and Folau's playing future and $4m deal now hinge on a code-of-conduct meeting to take place in the coming fortnight.

Genia said Folau's comments took him by surprise and seemed out of character.

"The Israel that I know, that I see every day when I've been in Wallabies environments and camps, he's a lovely guy.

"He's very humble, very quiet, he's very giving of his time to his teammates, to people in general.

"So for him to come out, and have said and done the things that he's done, it makes it pretty uncomfortable for a lot of people."

After his controversial post last year, Folau pledged that he'd walk away from his contract immediately, if he did any further harm to "Rugby Australia, it's sponsors and the Australian rugby community".

Genia believes Folau's most recent act has done exactly that, and has likely irreparably damaged his relationship with RA chief executive Raelene Castle and Wallabies coach Michael Cheika.

"If you've gone and said those things to Cheik and Raelene, there's a breach of trust and I guess there's an element of selfishness about it as well," Genia said.

"You can have your beliefs, but at the end of the day, you're also contracted to Rugby Australia and the NSW Waratahs, who - as your employers - stand for certain things in society, who want to promote the game a certain way.

"I think the fact that he's said that he wouldn't do such things and say any more about what he did last year, he's obviously broken a bit of trust with Raelene and Cheik."

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