{"id":252433,"date":"2022-11-24T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T01:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=252433"},"modified":"2022-11-24T04:58:01","modified_gmt":"2022-11-24T04:58:01","slug":"scary-thought-wallabies-are-trying-to-avoid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=252433","title":{"rendered":"'Scary thought' Wallabies are trying to avoid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wallabies<\/a> centre Len Ikitau says he's trying to avoid thinking about the possibility of injury less than a year out from the Rugby World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Brumbies ace is one of the few players who has remained uninjured for the duration of the five-match Spring Tour.<\/p>\n

Sunday morning's final clash against Wales at Principality Stadium in Cardiff will be the last outing of the year for what's left of the Australian contingent.<\/p>\n

Watch Wallabies vs Wales and Springboks vs England this Sunday on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> All matches streaming ad-free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Len<\/p>\n

The well-documented injury toll worsened on Wednesday when it emerged former captain Michael Hooper had been ruled out having shown signs of concussion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he felt like the last man standing, Ikitau knocked on the wooden desk, before offering a "yes" and a wry smile.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Simple item lands Aussie World Cup fan \ufeffin ugly standoff<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Gallen conquers ex-Origin rival in farewell fight<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Ricciardo's return to former F1 team locked in<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"It's a scary thought, being injured and not being in a position to put yourself forward for the World Cup," said Ikitau.<\/p>\n

"I guess, for us, it's more just taking it day by day, week by week, and enjoying the process on the way."<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most high-profile loss of late is that of Taniela Tupou<\/a>, who suffered a suspected ruptured Achilles tendon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Taniela<\/p>\n

It's feared the steamrolling prop may miss the tournament altogether.<\/p>\n

"Devastated for Nela and the rest of the boys, especially Nela," said Ikitau.<\/p>\n

"I think it's a long-term injury and I think he's just got to get back home and then get surgery and go from there. Really sad for Nela."<\/p>\n

Ikitau may find himself back in the No.12 jersey at inside centre, rather than his typical outside centre come Sunday.<\/p>\n

He's found himself in the No.13 jersey since making his debut against France last year.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/between-two-posts-1\/lelos-pumpkins-portuguese-tarts\/embed<\/a><\/p>\n

"I was thinking about it. I played 12 maybe three times my whole career and it's against the All Blacks, South Africa, and Ireland, so that's three big teams," said Ikitau.<\/p>\n

"It's pretty tough. I always say to [Mark Nawaqanitawase] that I always need reps at 12 just in case injuries happen and that proves why.<\/p>\n

"I've enjoyed it. I love playing 13 but 12 is a good learning experience for me."<\/p>\n

The final match of this year's tour gets underway at 2.15am AEDT on Saturday with coverage live, ad-free and exclusively on Stan Sport.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wallabies centre Len Ikitau says he's trying to avoid thinking about the possibility of injury less than a year out from the Rugby World Cup. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252433"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=252433"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252435,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252433\/revisions\/252435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=252433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=252433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=252433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}