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Wallaby star Len Ikitau 'absolutely desperate to play' PREM rivals
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Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter admits that Wallaby star Len Ikitau is desperate to play when Gallagher PREM leaders Northampton Saints visit Sandy Park on Saturday afternoon.
Outside centre Ikitau has been out of action since suffering a shoulder injury in the 30-24 win at Saracens before Christmas, but is now back in full training and has got “one or two little boxes to tick” before he is cleared to play.
The Chiefs have won all five of the games that Ikitau has played in since he joined the club on a one-year deal from the Brumbies, and he will be key to their hopes of landing PREM and Challenge Cup honours this season.
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“Len is absolutely desperate to play. But at the same time, he’s also aware he’s got one or two little boxes to tick to make sure he is ready to go properly.
“I think what you’ve just got to do is you’ve just got to follow the medical advice, and follow the programme, and get those decisions correct for the player.
“Yes, pushing him early is always a temptation. It’s a temptation for every good player. But I think we know exactly where we are. We’ll get that process correct,” said Baxter.
Baxter says that tighthead Josh Iosefa?Scott, back row Ethan Roots and full-back Ben Hammersley are all back in contention for selection, while Paul Brown-Bampoe is fit after missing last weekend’s win over Benetton with a “very small niggle”.
And he points out that although Ikitau is keen to play against Saints, sometimes players need saving from themselves, despite the gap between them and fifth-place Bristol Bears being cut from seven points to two by the time they kick off.
“A perfect example actually happened recently. I won’t tell you which player, but one said to me at the start of the week if he was being declared fit this week. I said, not at the moment.
“I’ve had a discussion with the medical staff. They still think there’s X, Y, Z you need to make sure you’re completely comfortable with, and funnily enough, the player wasn’t quite as ready as he maybe thought he was.
“He was just desperate to play without really considering the last little bits that he had to do. And so, yes, those conversations happen, but they need to happen with everybody, not just between the player and me,” he added.
Meanwhile, Baxter says that it will be another couple of weeks before England star Manny Feyi-Waboso is firing on all cylinders, despite scoring in both of his appearances against Munster and Benetton following his return from injury.
“Manny’s playing well and scoring tries, but is not yet, I wouldn’t describe, as being fully up and running. We’ll see that in the next two or three weeks, I would like to think.”
