Len Ikitau defends Dave Rennie ahead of Wallabies' last dance
Wallabies centre Len Ikitau insists coach Dave Rennie is not to blame for the team's lean spring tour, saying the players must take responsibility.
Since opening the tour with a 16-15 win over Scotland, the Wallabies have lost to France (30-29), Italy (28-27) and Ireland (13-10).
Although the defeats to France and Ireland were brave given the quality of the opposition, the loss to Italy for the first time in the Wallabies' history heaped huge pressure on Rennie.
The Wallabies have the chance to end their spring tour on a happy note when they take on fellow strugglers Wales in Cardiff on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).
Ikitau said Rennie was not at fault for the run of three straight losses.
"It's more on the players there," he said.
"Dave's got an awesome system and the way he wants to play, and for us it's going out there and executing it.
"I just don't think we've been doing that the last couple of weeks, especially against Italy.
"It would be nice to finish off our last game with a win and go forward from there."
Wales coach Wayne Pivac is also under huge pressure after his side suffered a shock 13-12 defeat to tier-two nation Georgia last Saturday.
It sets up an intriguing battle this weekend, with both sides desperate for victory.
The Wallabies are scrambling for players after former skipper Michael Hooper became the seventh player to succumb to injury from last week's loss to Ireland.
Ikitau, who normally plays at outside centre, was forced to shift to the No 12 jersey against Ireland after Hunter Paisami went down early in the match.
"I've played 12 maybe three times my whole career, and it's against the All Blacks, South Africa, and Ireland," Ikitau said.
"That's three big teams. It's pretty tough.
"I've enjoyed it. I love playing 13, but 12 is a good learning experience for me."
One big positive to come out of the loss to Ireland was the form of winger Mark Nawaqanitawase, who produced a series of powerful runs in just his second Test.
"I don't want to be a hog or anything like that, but I go looking for the ball quite a bit," Nawaqanitawase said.
"For me personally it's a way I can get into the game."
- Justin Chadwick
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End of the day it wasn't Fozzie that missed two vital kicks at goal. It wasn't Fozzie who tackled high. It also wasn't Fozzie who fired his two closest friends lol. Razor already did the same with Leon McDonald, so this is nothing against him. Also, wasn't Fozzie who came up with the lame excuse called Suzie, that basically damned them for the next 100 years. Mark my words, they will keep losing important Rugby World Cup games until they apologise for what they did in post 1995. Disgraceful.
Go to commentsI’m a Bristol fan and it’s been brilliant watching them play this season and huge credit to Lam for the philosophical and strategic buy-in he’s gotten from his players.
My concern - and as illustrated against Leinster, is how the Bristol approach will hold up through the wet and windy winter months when fast, free-flowing, 15-man rugby becomes harder to execute.
Squad depth - again, illustrated by the capitulation to Leinster when McGinty went off, is also something that might see performances drop over the second half of the season.
All that being said, If they can hold firm’ish then you expect them to be in the top 4 come the Spring.
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