Sensationally overlooked of the Wallabies’ 2023 World Cup marketing campaign, Len Ikitau has answered again emphatically by claiming the John Eales Medal two years later.
By claiming Australia’s highest males’s gong, the 27-year-old turns into the primary midfielder to win the celebrated medal because the award’s inception in 2002.
Whereas the midfielder has lengthy been thought to be one of many sport’s greatest outdoors centres, his shift one place nearer to the motion has seen his popularity solely develop.
That was definitely the case final November as Ikitau’s audacious out-the-back flick cross put flying winger Max Jorgensen away to assist the Wallabies snap their nine-year drought at Twickenham.
Within the course of, the sensible midfielder earned the nickname Lenny ‘Flickitau’.
Len Ikitau and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii have fun after beating England with a last-second attempt at Twickenham. (Picture by Andrew Matthews/PA Photographs through Getty Photographs)
Alongside the way in which, Ikitau has typically outshone his high-profile teammate Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, who loved his personal spectacular debut in opposition to England at Twickenham.
Ikitau, who has joined Exeter on a short-term deal and missed the occasion, has been one in all Joe Schmidt’s first picked gamers over the previous two years and his stardom has solely risen over the previous three months with sturdy performances in opposition to the Lions and thru The Rugby Championship.
“I feel that is in all probability top-of-the-line years that I’ve loved within the Wallabies jersey,” Ikitau instructed reporters through Zoom on Friday night time.
“When it comes to the way in which we’ve been enjoying, the way in which that we need to play, it’s simply been thrilling. Clearly, there’s been just a few video games the place we’ve misplaced, however general, I’ve loved my time this 12 months.”
On the win over England, Ikitau stated the match represented a “turning level” for Schmidt’s Wallabies.
“I feel that sport was form of the turning level for us,” he stated. “We have been coming off a poor rugby championship and we needed to begin quick. That was a loopy sport to be part of.”
Suaalii didn’t go away empty-handed, with the Wallabies No.13 topped rookie of the 12 months.
Regardless of an injury-disrupted Tremendous Rugby season, the code-hopper hasn’t missed a Take a look at since debuting in opposition to England.
However so damaging was he for the Waratahs, particularly at fullback, that he was included within the official Tremendous Rugby group of the 12 months.
In the meantime, Wallaroos back-rower Tabua Tuinakauvadra capped a marvellous 12 months by claiming Australia’s girls’s participant of the 12 months award.
The strong-running loose-forward was an everyday underneath Jo Yapp and performed a key position within the aspect claiming the WXV2 trophy final 12 months.
She then continued her stellar type this 12 months, scoring commonly and that includes prominently through the aspect’s run to the quarterfinals.
Carlo Tizzano’s sturdy Tremendous Rugby type noticed him play in opposition to the Lions. (Picture by Matt Roberts/Getty Photographs)
In different awards, Power back-rower Carlo Tizzano and Waratahs centre Georgie Freidrichs respectively gained the lads’s and ladies’s greatest gamers in Tremendous Rugby.
James Turner and Religion Nathan gained the Shawn Mackay Award for Australia’s greatest sevens gamers.
Aden Ekanayake and Sid Harvey have been joint winners for junior males’s participant of the 12 months for his or her performances for each Australia 7s and Australia U20s, whereas 20-year-old Mackenzie Davis picked up junior girls’s participant of the 12 months after her breakout 12 months on the Sevens circuit.
The Referee of the 12 months Award went to Ella Goldsmith, who alongside together with her important Take a look at commitments, was appointed to officiate the 2025 Girls’s Rugby World Cup Bronze Medal Match.
Wallabies nice George Smith was inducted to the Corridor of Fame together with Tui Ormsby.
2025 Rugby Australia Awards – winners checklist
John Eales Medal – Len Ikitau
Wallaroos Participant of the 12 months – Tabua Tuinakavadura
Shawn Mackay Award for Males’s Sevens Participant of the 12 months – James Turner
Shawn Mackay Award for Girls’s Sevens Participant of the 12 months – Religion Nathan
Tremendous Rugby Pacific Participant of the 12 months – Carlo Tizzano, Western Power
Tremendous Rugby Girls’s Participant of the 12 months – Georgina Friedrichs, NSW Waratahs
Rookie of the 12 months Award – Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, NSW Waratahs & Wallabies
Junior Males’s Participant of the 12 months – Aden Ekanayake, Males’s 7s/AUS U20s & Sid Harvey, Males’s 7s/AUS U20s
Junior Girls’s Participant of the 12 months – Mackenzie Davis, Girls’s 7s
Cadbury Attempt of the 12 months – Max Jorgensen, Wallabies vs. England
Defender of the 12 months – Maddison Levi, Girls’s 7s vs. NZ, Singapore
Referee of the 12 months – Ella Goldsmith
Nick Farr-Jones Spirit of Rugby Award – Jo Staples, Queensland Rugby Union
Joe French Award for Excellent Contribution to Rugby – John Edwards, RugbyWA
Geoff ‘Bunter’ Shaw Group Coach of the 12 months Award – John Carters, NSW Rugby
Andrew Cole Group Match Official of the 12 months – Craig Gardner, Tasmanian Rugby Referees
