{"id":280732,"date":"2025-11-13T01:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T01:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/280732\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T01:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T01:28:10","slug":"wallabies-centre-len-ikitau-opens-up-about-refreshing-exeter-sabbatical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/280732\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallabies centre Len Ikitau opens up about \u2018refreshing\u2019 Exeter sabbatical"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Len Ikitau wasn\u2019t in Sydney for the 2025 Rugby Australia<\/a> Awards to collect the John Eales<\/a> Medal, which was awarded to the Wallabies centre after a career-best 12 months in the gold jersey \u2013 instead, he was on the other side of the world preparing to debut for the Exeter Chiefs.<\/p>\n

Rugby Australia confirmed in April that Ikitau has re-signed for another two years, which included a sabbatical with the Chiefs<\/a> in England\u2019s Premiership. Ikitau will return to Australia before the international season next July, which will be Joe Schmidt\u2019s last Test window as Wallabies coach.<\/p>\n

Brumbies<\/a> coach Stephen Larkham<\/a> has spoken about the team\u2019s midfield depth ahead of the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> season, with rookie Kye Oates<\/a> among those who could potentially fill Ikitau\u2019s vacant spot in the side.<\/p>\n

Ikitau\u2019s decision to sign with the Chiefs sparked a brief change for the Wallabies too, with Schmidt pairing regular outside centre Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii<\/a> up with Hunter Paisami<\/a> for Quilter Nations Series defeats to England<\/a> and Italy.<\/p>\n

In just two appearances for the Chiefs, Ikitau has embraced the opportunity to grow on and off the field, \u201cplaying a different brand of footy\u201d up north. Before the Wallabies face Ireland<\/a> this weekend, the team\u2019s Player of the Year opened up about the benefits of the move.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot different to back home and how the Brumbies play,\u201d Ikitau told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cHenry Slade\u2019s there who\u2019s not getting picked for England but he\u2019s been playing unbelievable for Exeter.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being able to learn off some experienced players and just learning off the younger players too, it\u2019s been quite refreshing and exciting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to grow my game. I didn\u2019t want to come over here and just play a season, I wanted to come over here and really grow, not only as a player but as a person and a family man. I feel like I\u2019m slowly doing that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite tough when you used to be the younger boy and now you\u2019re one of the oldest in the team. It\u2019s gone so quick and before you know it I\u2019ll be watching from the stands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ikitau isn\u2019t the only current Wallaby at the Chiefs, with backrower Tom Hooper<\/a> putting pen to paper with the club based out of Sandy Park. Both Australians debuted for Exeter in a relentless 38-0 shutout win over Harlequins<\/a> on October 20.<\/p>\n

They retained their spots in the run-on side for the round five clash with Gloucester, which the Chiefs won comfortably 39-12. That match on October 26 was Ikitau\u2019s most recently competitive appearance, having been left out of the matchday 23 to face Italy<\/a> in Udine.<\/p>\n

After starting their season with a last-gasp win over the Flying Fijians in Newcastle, beating the British & Irish Lions<\/a> in Sydney, and recording famous comeback wins over the Springboks and Los Pumas, the Wallabies have won just two of their last eight matches.<\/p>\n

The Wallabies are looking to bounce back from two defeats this weekend, taking on one of Test rugby\u2019s powerhouse sides at the Aviva Stadium. Following losses to England and Italy, the Australians are searching for an upset over Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of ups and downs. At the start of the year we\u2019re building on what we did last year on the Spring Tour. I think that Spring Tour was a change for us as a team,\u201d Ikitau reflected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the year there\u2019s been a lot of ups and downs. We\u2019ve lost a lot of players, some young players have come through.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I\u2019ve really enjoyed this year. I\u2019ve enjoyed playing with the boys and obviously I\u2019m at Exeter now, I\u2019m enjoying that new chapter. Very different to back home\u2026 I\u2019m really enjoying it, enjoying my time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Len Ikitau wasn\u2019t in Sydney for the 2025 Rugby Australia Awards to collect the John Eales Medal, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-280732","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\/280732","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=280732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}