Australia center Len Ikitau fractured his shoulder blade in the loss to Argentina on Saturday and will be out for six to eight weeks. His start to the World Cup is therefore compromised.
The Wallabies have been accumulating bad news lately… Beaten in South Africa last week then at home by Argentina this Saturday as part of the Rugby Championship, they also lost one of their executives for a little while. 24-year-old center Len Ikitau fractured his shoulder blade in the Pumas loss to score his side’s first try following a tackle from Emiliano Boffelli and will be out for six to eight weeks .
The Camberra Brumbies player will therefore miss the last game of the Rugby Championship (reduced to three days, instead of six this year, World Cup requires) in two weeks against New Zealand, who won their first two matches. But it is not the most important. Len Itikau will not be able to return until the end of August at best or around September 10, if he is indeed absent for eight weeks.
Ikitau absent against Georgia?
This therefore means that he could miss the first match of the Wallabies World Cup, against Georgia, on September 9 at the Stade de France, as part of Group C. Australia obviously have the means to beat the Georgians without center to 29 selections (the first two years ago, almost to the day, against France), but given her latest results, she will not approach the World Cup with full confidence and would do better to start the competition with its executives. Australia’s second match is then scheduled for September 17, against Fiji in St-Etienne. To replace him, coach Eddie Jones could decide to trust Waratahs center Izaia Perese (26, 3 caps), Rebels Reece Hodge (28, 63 caps) or Tokyo Sungoliath Samu Kerevi ( 29 years old, 43 selections), author of a test on Saturday against Argentina as No. 12.
