Former Leinster and Munster flanker Liam Toland believes that Israel Folau's absence from the Australian national side 'changes everything' for the Wallabies.

Folau is due to have his contract terminated by Rugby Australia after a second round of homophobic comments on social media last week.

Folau posted a message on Instagram which read "Drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolators - Hell awaits you."

Agreeing with the decision, Toland believes that Folau's removal from the national setup makes Australia's tactical setup for the World Cup extremely difficult.

"You couldn't underestimate the negative value to Australia, in terms of their approach to the World Cup.

"It completely changes everything. It changes absolutely and utterly everything. I am obviously not privy to Michael Cheika's tactics, but I can imagine that a huge amount of them are built around Israel Folau.

"He is a truly world-class rugby player, a phenomenal athlete and a guy who can change tournaments by himself. In that sense, he's a huge loss.

"But if [the squad] were deeply disturbed by Israel Folau's attitude, maybe this is a positive that he is no longer tolerated and they can get on, but in the pure, raw sense of an athlete - he'll be a enormous loss."

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