Israel Folau: St George Illawara say talks over NRL return for Catalans centre over

Israel Folau scored five tries in 15 appearances for Catalans last season

St George Illawarra have ended talks about the possibility of signing Catalans Dragons centre Israel Folau.

The Australian side, also known as the Dragons, had applied to the National Rugby League for permission to register the 31-year-old.

But a club statement said "such discussions have now ceased".

Any return to the NRL would have depended on the league, which had previously said Folau failed to meet their "inclusiveness culture".

The former cross-code international was sacked by Rugby Australia, when he was playing union, following a social media post in April 2019 in which he stated that "hell awaits" gay people.

He later reached a settlement with the governing body, which he sued for alleged religious discrimination.

Although Catalans were allowed to sign Folau in January 2020, Super League chief executive Robert Elstone later admitted regret at the way the decision was taken.

Catalans recently reacted to rumours of an NRL move by explaining Folau's delayed return to the south of France after a pre-season break in Australia as being caused by a "family situation" and they remained in contact.

"He's got a critically ill mother-in-law and that's the priority for him and the priority for us because we care about player welfare," said the club's football manager Alex Chan.

"We're giving him as long as it takes, we've told him to make sure that everything is taken care of and to keep us updated on what's going on. We're working closely with Izzy, waiting for news and hoping for the best.

"At no point have we spoken about a release. We'd built our squad around certain players that we had re-signed, Izzy being one of them."

The former Queensland Origin player, who was previously a star in the NRL with Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm, scored five tries in 15 games with Catalans in a shortened 2020 Super League season.