{"id":272092,"date":"2025-11-08T23:59:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T23:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/272092\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T23:59:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T23:59:08","slug":"joe-schmidt-reveals-if-john-eales-medallist-will-be-available-for-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/272092\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Schmidt reveals if John Eales Medallist will be available for Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has confirmed Len Ikitau<\/a> is \u201cfit and available\u201d to return in next weekend\u2019s Spring Tour clash with Ireland<\/a> in Dublin, after the John Eales<\/a> Medallist was omitted from the side to take on Italy<\/a> in Udine.<\/p>\n

Exeter Chiefs<\/a> duo Ikitau and Tom Hooper<\/a> were initially left out of the Wallabies\u2019 squad for their Spring Tour, with Test matches against Japan<\/a> and England<\/a> falling outside of World Rugby\u2019s three-week international window.<\/p>\n

It was revealed mere hours after last weekend\u2019s 18-point defeat to the English that Ikitau and Hooper had been brought into the squad, although only one of them was named in the matchday side for Saturday\u2019s match against the Azzurri.<\/p>\n

Hooper started at blindside flanker, joining Fraser McReight<\/a> and captain Harry Wilson<\/a> in the loose forwards trio. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii<\/a> was named in the midfield, linking up with inside centre Hunter Paisami<\/a> for the second Test in a row.<\/p>\n

After the Wallabies suffered a shock 26-19 Autumn Nations Series<\/a> defeat to Italy, Schmidt was asked about the decision to leave Ikitau out of the matchday 23. While standing by Paisami\u2019s selection, the coach declared Ikitau\u2019s availability for next week\u2019s Ireland Test.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Hunter Paisami played well,\u201d Schmidt said post-game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was physical, he\u2019s a punchy little player for us. He\u2019s got a good skill set. He was penalised once for a tackle being late\u2026 so he\u2019ll be disappointed with that. Apart from that, I felt he played quite well.<\/p>\n

\u201cLenny, he\u2019s fit and available next week and he\u2019s had a week back with us. He\u2019s a guy who adds leadership as much as anything. He\u2019s in our leadership team and has had a super season for us so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the England defeat, the Wallabies flew to Italy for the third stop of their Spring Tour. Three years on from a shock one-point loss to the Azzurri, captain Harry Wilson<\/a> looked to lead a vastly different Wallabies outfit to a bounce-back win.<\/p>\n

Fly-half Paolo Garbisi<\/a> kicked Italy in front with two early penalties, before the visitors struck back with tries to front-rowers Matt Faessler<\/a> and Angus Bell. While Garbisi knocked over one more shot at the uprights, the Wallabies took a hard-earned lead into the sheds at half-time.<\/p>\n

Code-hopper Carter Gordon<\/a> scored the Wallabies\u2019 third and final try of the evening in the 50th minute, before a yellow card to Suaalii proved to be a turning point. With Suaalii on the sidelines, the Italians scored two tries in a rapid three-minute blitz.<\/p>\n

Louis Lynagh and Monty Ioane<\/a> scored a five-pointer each as Italy ran out to a 26-19 lead. While there was still plenty of time left, the Wallabies failed to score any more points as they fell to their second consecutive defeat to the Azzurri.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll face Ireland next weekend at Dublin\u2019s Aviva Stadium before their 2025 campaign draws to a close against France<\/a> on November 22.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter being involved in coaching over 130-odd Tests, inevitably\u2026 there\u2019s been some great highs and thankfully there\u2019s probably been more of those than there have been lows. But this low right now is tough,\u201d Schmidt explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I would say to the players is one of the best things about the tour is that they do have a chance to turn things around next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to manage the fuel in the tank. I did think that we just didn\u2019t look as sharp as we did earlier in the season and we\u2019ve got to get that sharpness, that energy back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got about seven and a half hours of travel to get to Dublin tomorrow. That\u2019s a really light start to the week. Try to get one good training in during week and then try to hit the ground running in the Aviva Stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has confirmed Len Ikitau is \u201cfit and available\u201d to return in next weekend\u2019s Spring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-272092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}