“Len Who?” was the unwitting brush-off that stirred the rise of centre Len Ikitau as a frontline Wallaby.
The young back has crammed plenty into the past 14 months to reach Saturday night’s blockbuster as a key weapon against South Africa at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium.
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Everything has reinforced just how shrewd a pick he was when coach Dave Rennie ushered him into his first Wallabies camp as a bolter in 2020.
The explosive footwork, the angles he runs, the imposing defence, the unselfish passing, the game of limited errors … the ticks are consistent in just about every Test he plays.
At Adelaide Oval last weekend, it was Ikitau’s sharp left-foot sidestep and surge that punched the Wallabies forward. It set up the platform for the key Marika Koroibete try and 15-3 against the Boks.
In the space of weeks in this eToro Rugby Championship, he again faces the best outside centre in the world, Springbok Lukhanyo Am, and then All Black who could be, Rieko Ioane on September 15.
Ikitau, 23, has pinch-myself moments still. His composure on the field belies his Test career moving at such a pace. He has crammed 18 Tests into 14 months, more Tests (16) than 1970s centre David L’Estrange was able to compile in four-and-a-bit-years. That’s the packed calendar and sink-or-swim education of modern Test Rugby.
Ikitau has been so anchored to the successful recent seasons of the ACT Brumbies that it is easy to forget he was schooled in Brisbane.
He might happily have hooked his future to making a mark in Queensland but for those dreams abruptly dissolving.
Ikitau turned 18 late in 2016 after his final year of Rugby at Brisbane Boys’ College was cut short by injury. Even that shortened First XV season becomes a dynamic two-minute blur of acceleration, line-slicing, smart inside running angles to the tryline and confidence on his YouTube highlights reel. Do yourself a favour and take a look.
There was no bite from the Reds.
“My manager said he’d put my name forward to the Reds and they didn’t really know who I was,” Ikitau said.
“That was a bit of a kick in the butt to me. I had to look to see if there were other opportunities.”
Then-BBC coach Shane Drahm, the former Queensland and England A flyhalf, was zealous about pushing Ikitau’s case because he saw something special. He picked up the phone to Brumbies assistant coach Dan McKellar, a former clubmate at Souths in Brisbane.
“Trust me, he’ll be a star. He’s so fast-twitch with his footwork and powerful that he reminds of (All Black) Malakai Fekitoa. Len will be as good or better,” is the huge pitch that Drahm recalled giving McKellar.
The vague question marks over the young Ikitau’s work ethic when it came to fitness were put aside. It was still a leap of faith to get Ikitau down to Canberra, largely sight unseen, but McKellar backed Drahm’s judgement.
“Pretty much from the first training session, Len had the makings of one of the very best schoolboys players I’d seen. He was the one player we allowed to go outside our defensive system (in First XV). He was given license to rush on attackers and he’d read the play so well he rarely missed his mark,” Drahm added.
“It’s great to see how far he’s come. He’s kept that humility where family and mates mean so much to him. His best is still ahead.”
The National Rugby Championship was a valuable pathway for Ikitau. He got regular Rugby with and against senior players at a higher level for the first time and it complimented all he learnt in training with the Brumbies.
It bears mentioning that Ikitau, Swain, Noah Lolesio, Nick Frost, Rob Valetini, Tom Wright and Lachie Lonergan all benefitted from playing in the 2019 Canberra Vikings team in the final season of the NRC on their roads to becoming Wallabies.
“It’s been awesome playing with Darcy, one of my best mates along this journey,” Ikitau said of his Wallabies teammate.
“We were at school together. We didn’t really talk about playing professional footy together in those days. It wasn’t until I moved down to Canberra.
“I didn’t have any opportunity in Brisbane so I reached out to ‘Darce’ and asked if there were any chances down there.
“He said the Vikings were looking for a centre. I grabbed the opportunity. I did three pre-seasons with the Brumbies before I eventually got a contract.”
Swain was also a calming voice when Ikitau had moments of doubt and felt like packing up and heading back to Queensland.
Ikitau was caught completely by surprise with his first call-up to Wallabies camp in 2020. He was a shy newbie and admitted that he pondered on whether he deserved to be there.
“I came in with only a handful of Super Rugby games behind me in 2020. The 2021 year was really good for my Rugby, just to get a full season under my belt with the Brumbies,” he said. “I got a bit of confidence from playing Super Rugby and I guess I brought that on to the international stage.
“There is a lot you learn off the field that goes into it too, like the mindset to be ready because we are playing top quality teams like South Africa and the All Blacks all the time.
“I’ve changed my thinking in the recovery area. Those first couple of years at the ‘Brums’, I used to hate going into the ice bath and that kinda stuff.
“I know now that recovery is key to keeping the body right for a long career.”
Ikitau made his Test debut in the winning series against France to open 2021. Nine weeks later, he was scoring two tries in a superb win over the Boks in Brisbane.
His first Test try had everything that Drahm had seen in him in his schoolboy days.
There was the super-fast shuffle of feet to beat Springbok Handre Pollard on the outside, there was a fend to shed another defender and excellent balance to make sure of the try. It was eight metres of the highest quality, what Test Rugby is all about.
What you don’t see so easily is Ikitau’s strength in defence. He hits like cement with those powerful Samoan shoulders of his.
His humility is something you observe and pick up over time. He played 13 Tests for the Wallabies in 2021. That was honour enough because all his jerseys found different homes.
“To be honest, I don’t have any jersey from any Test I played last year. I normally give them to mum and dad and they give them to family, aunties, uncles. Mum and Dad do have my jersey from my first series against the French,” Ikitau said.
Another went to three brothers, young fans who always line-up at Canberra’s GIO Stadium before the Brumbies run out on to the field.
“When I see them, it puts a smile on my face. I see how much they love the Brumbies and Rugby. I wanted to give them a jersey too,” Ikitau said.
“I do have my Wallabies cap which is something very special that I want to hold on to.”
Ikitau is one in a cluster of Wallabies who Rennie has advanced from Test debuts to team regulars in his three seasons in charge.
If all goes to plan, Ikitau, Swain, Lolesio, Wright, Hunter Paisami, Andrew Kellaway and Tate McDermott will have 25-to-30 Tests worth of experience behind them when they hit the Rugby World Cup in France next year.
It’s a stage of dreams for a player like Len Ikitau, another overnight success years in the making.
