Len Ikitau broke his try-scoring drought in style as the classy centre grabbed a hat-trick in the ACT Brumbies' 38-21 Super Rugby Pacific win over the Fijian Drua in Canberra on Friday night.
The round five match always shaped as a potential banana skin with the Brumbies having to refocus after their emotionally charged upset of the defending Blues at Eden Park.
And it was never going to be straight forward against a dangerous Drua side who had just knocked over the ladder-leading Chiefs in Lautoka last weekend.
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Len Ikitau of the Brumbies is tackled. Getty
But Ikitau – who had not scored for the Brumbies since May last year – kept the points flowing in front of a healthy GIO Stadium crowd.
The 26-year-old scored two tries in the first half and one in the second as the Brumbies surged up to second behind only the Chiefs.
Ikitau is set to miss Super Rugby next season while playing in England for the Exeter Chiefs but Rugby Australia hopes to get him back in Canberra ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
"Lenny in attack, he's very good close to the line," Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham told Stan Sport.
"Defensively he's outstanding in the 13, I think he's the best in the world."
Ikitau joked that he was more comfortable playing provider.
"I'd rather be setting up the tries, to be honest, so I don't have to do these interviews," he said.
"I just wanted to get in the picture, you know, it's a big work-on for me, making sure that I'm backing up in support, so yeah, I was happy.
"I was pretty disappointed with the way I played last week against the Blues, so I just wanted to come in and make sure that I was carrying well and defending well…
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"That was tough, not making the World Cup squad (in 2023), but I think what helped me was my little boy (son Lennox).
"He was born around that time, so, yeah, it was good to spend time and make sure that I was with him around that time when he was a bit younger, so it was good."
Larkham will now give his players two days off before a huge March 22 clash with the NSW Waratahs in Sydney.
The unbeaten Waratahs first travel to play the Queensland Reds in Brisbane on Saturday.
"We've done our preview on them already and I'll be interested to watch their game this weekend," said Larkham, who is in the mix to replace Joe Schmidt at the Wallabies helm.
"That'll be a really good tell as to where the Waratahs are at.
"They've been quite powerful and dynamic with their forward pack.
"Obviously their scrum is dominating just about every other team that they've played against, and they've got some pretty flashy backs.
"They've got a few to come back, hopefully, from injury for them and it'll be our best test this year."