By Sam Ryan

After two weeks of having the same conversation and reading the same articles about Israel Folau, isn’t it time to move on and start talking about the rugby.

It seems fairly clear that the majority of the rugby community strongly disagree with Folau’s views. But the reality is, Rugby Australia chose not to sanction their star player for his comments.

Folau isn’t going to change his beliefs and Rugby Australia aren’t going to punish him.

So why are we still talking about it?

If anyone was particularly hurt by the 29-year old’s comments, then surely recycling the issue over and over again isn’t making it any easier on them.

It’s time to move on and the best way to do that, particularly for Waratahs fans, is to focus on Friday night’s clash against the Lions, a match Folau will miss through injury.

Last year, NSW won just four games. It was a disastrous year for Australian rugby as a whole but things have started to turn.

The Waratahs have won five of their first seven matches this year and are playing a style of rugby that must even be exciting the most fickle sky blue supporter.

Yes, they’ve had one of the easier starts to the season and are yet to face a New Zealand side, but up until this point, things have looked really promising.

On Friday night, the Tahs get their first opportunity to prove that they’re the real deal this season.

The Lions have played in the last two Super Rugby finals and are as big and brutal as they are fast and electric.

They’ve also won five matches this year, sit two spots ahead of the Tahs in second and have the best attacking record in the competition (Lions average 36.5 points a match, Waratahs average 35.4 points per match)

And if that’s not enough to get you to the SFS on Friday night, you’ve got the Super W grand final on before and when it’s over, you can jump next door and watch the final quarter of the Swans match against the Crows. It’s not a bad night out.

The Lions clash is the first of five major hurdles the Waratahs will face on this side of the June Test window, with Saturday’s match to be followed by four straight clashes against New Zealand sides.

If they are the real deal, we’ll know about it in six weeks time.

And that’s what we should really be talking about at the moment.