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'Eddie's biggest crime': Untold story of World Cup snub has infuriated Wallabies fans
It was thought that Brumbies and Wallabies centre Len Ikitau missed Rugby World Cup selection due to injury but the story has now come to light.
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Quade Cooper and Michael Hooper were high-profile omissions for the Wallabies but Ikitau was genuinely one of a handful of world class players available.
The 25-year-old in his athletic prime suffered a shoulder injury against Argentina in the Rugby Championship, which was the only concern.
In an interview with Nathan Williamson from Rugby.com.au, the Wallabies centre revealed his timeline to return to play was in time for the start of the World Cup.
The hypocrisy of former coach Eddie Jones and how he left the dirty work up to the manager to inform him of non-selection left a bad taste for No 13.
“I was in contact with the doctor every couple and days and they had me on a conditioning program for a couple of weeks,” he explained to Rugby.com.au,
“They had this one-off Wallabies training if you were based in Brisbane. It was myself, Quade (Cooper), Taniela (Tupou) and the rest of the Brisbane boys
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“They trained for two days and then named the squad on the Friday and I saw Quade there and said ‘I think I’m a chance to be in the squad’.
“When they said they were announcing, they were going to call all the players the night before and it wasn’t until 9:30 pm when I thought ‘what the hell is going on’ and I get a message from ‘Webby’ (World Cup team manager Chris Webb) to get in touch with Eddie and he’ll let you know what your plans are.
“I was like ‘does that mean I’m not in the squad’ and he confirmed.”
Ikitau revealed that his non-selection was due to still being unable to play due to injury, but that reasoning didn’t add up with four other injured players taken to France.
Uncapped rookie fullback Max Jorgensen was one of the selections despite being injured and having never donned the Wallabies jersey before.
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“I was just disappointed at the comms I received,” Ikitau said.
“A good head coach would’ve called you and told you why you weren’t in the team but at the end of the day we got the manager doing the rounds.
“I was disappointed with that and the reasoning around why I wasn’t in the squad was because they didn’t want to take injured players and there was three or four guys injured guys in there.”
The reaction from Australian rugby media and fans alike has caused fury with the non-selection labelled “Eddie’s biggest crime”, “bewildering” for leaving out the “rock of the backline”.
Ikitau had established himself as the number one outside centre, starting 25 of his 29 Tests for the Wallabies since his debut in 2021 against France.
His form in his first year of international rugby propelled Ikitau into the conversation as “world’s best” with his stellar defence a hallmark of his play.
Just remember that one of the best players in the Wallabies setup was told by a team manager to get in contact with Eddie Jones to find out ‘what your plans are’.
Jones didn’t ring players on time because he was getting his dog home from UK.
Then did a secret interview with 🇯🇵 https://t.co/QcYPavaWIa pic.twitter.com/aoClNP9Ac5
— Tom Decent (@tomdecent) January 17, 2024
Of all of Eddie’s bewildering decisions the treatment of one of Australia’s few genuinely world class players is right up there. https://t.co/JIFweCERx6
— Paul Cully (@paulcullystuff) January 17, 2024
This was arguably Eddie's biggest crime. More so than leaving out say Hoops as we had quality depth with McReight. Luckily Len is going enough to make at least one more world cup. He deserves it. https://t.co/I6BzpIPydI
— Huw Tindall (@HuwTindall) January 17, 2024
I can’t read on before commenting. This was the one selection that dropped the curtain on the EddieJones debacle. Any rugby supporter with half a brain knew he was the first pick. He was a rock in our back line and potentially a world XV player in his position
— Marty Askew (@martyaskew) January 17, 2024
World’s best 13 for two years. I’ll never forgive Jones for picking Jorgo with a similar rehab timeline and not Len. His nepotism was never more clearly in show
— Derek Murray 🇦🇺🇬🇧 (@dmurray59) January 17, 2024
The hypocrisy of Jones was astounding
— Justin Berger (@JustinBerger15) January 17, 2024
Comments on RugbyPass
The article alludes to the fact that this isn’t about picking a captain. But picking a great captain. So who would make for a great All Black captain - not just an obvious or safe shoo-in? I’m not sure Ardie’s the guy and Barret doesn’t stand out either.
20 Go to commentsI guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
44 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
4 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
44 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
44 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
4 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
7 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
2 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
7 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to comments