mens
nations-championship
Wallabies center Len Ikitau has stressed the importance of “bonding” and alluded to some major repairs needed in the backline as the Aussies look to bounce back from a heavy defeat to England without breakout star Isaac Henry.
2025 medalist John Eales (Wallabies player) formed a long-standing center pairing with Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, but coach Les Kiss recently went in a different direction by moving ‘Su’ out wide on the wing.
Suaalii joined Max Jorgesen and Tom Wright in the back three of the Wallabies side to face the Springboks in Perth. Hunter Paisami first joined Ikitau in midfield, before Henry got that chance against All black people and England.
But as the Wallabies confirmed this week, Henry suffered a season-ending hamstring injury in the 45-22 defeat by England at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium, which will see the international rookie miss the rest of the Nations Championship.
Paisami is unavailable, as utility Filipo Daugunu and 95-Test cap Kurtley Beale emerge as potential starting options Scotland this weekend. Kiss could also bring Suaali back into midfield, but any selections won’t be confirmed until later this week.
“It’s pretty tough. Being able to stick with the same center and being able to play consistently with the same people has been difficult for us lately,” Ikitau told reporters.
“I feel like we have a lot of good centers. Unfortunately for (Henry) he won’t play for the rest of the tour. But we have (Daugunu) who was outstanding when he came in, he brought a lot of energy.
“And Joseph can go back to the centers. We have a good relationship there in the centers, so if he needs to come back, then we’ll just go with it.”
Henry played around 53 minutes alongside Ikitau against England as the Wallabies all tired to wrestle their way back into contention. England led 19-3 deep into the first half, before Max Jorgensen’s intercept try breathed new life into the Wallabies.
The Wallabies had only one 22 entry before that breakaway try, and the men in gold failed to make the most of the opportunity. But still, they only went into the break by nine, and all of that had to be played in the second term.
But England quickly took control, with full-back Henry Pollock scoring two tries as a substitute on the wing. Daugunu and Jeremy Williams hit back for the Wallabies, but as captain Harry Wilson said after the game, it was “too little, too late”.
“Pretty disappointing result last week,” Ikitau mused.
“Training-wise, we’ve got a lot of work to do from that game and we tried to achieve that today and we have another chance to do it again on Friday. As disappointed as we are, we’re just able to get back on the horse and play Scotland again this week.”
