Bundee Aki shrugs off Ireland eligibility criticism
Bundee Aki has vowed to keep on doing Ireland proud, despite admitting “some people won’t be happy with me pulling on an Irish jersey”.
New Zealand-born with Samoan heritage, Aki left his native Auckland to seek a better life for his family in 2014 – settling in Galway and thriving with Connacht.
Aki duly qualified for Ireland on residency, making his test debut in 2017 and going on to provide a formidable midfield presence in head coach Joe Schmidt’s squad.
Former Ireland stars Neil Francis and Luke Fitzgerald have repeatedly hit out at the nation’s “project” players, while New Zealand assistant coach Ian Foster said directly of Kiwi-born Aki in November: “They’ve turned him into an Irishman – he looks like an Irishman now, doesn’t he?”
The 29-year-old has received widespread plaudits for his whole-hearted commitment to the Galway community as much as Connacht’s ranks, and has now spoken out about his detractors.
Asked how he feels when he hears criticism of his decision to chase a test career with Ireland, Aki said: “Ah look, people have their own opinions, which is fair.
“Some people won’t be happy with me pulling on an Irish jersey but I obviously felt like playing for this country, putting in the hard work, anything can happen.
“They’re more than able to have their own opinion. That’s how they think and how they approach it. I highly respect them for that and I’ve got nothing towards them.
“All I’ve got to do is just make sure I put in a performance and do what I can do, and that’s just to perform on the field, and that’s all I can ask for.
“Hopefully I do myself proud, I do my team-mates proud, make sure I do my family proud and most of all, the country proud.
“That’s all I can do realistically as a rugby player.”
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Aki was nearly lost to rugby forever when he quit the sport to work as an Auckland bank teller to provide for his young family.
Former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga went into Aki’s branch to coax the hard-hitting centre into another crack at the professional game, and the rest is now happy history.
Foster’s comments on Aki in November only served to fire up one of the emotional heartbeats of Ireland’s ranks, and Schmidt’s men duly downed New Zealand 16-9 for their first win over the All Blacks in Dublin.
World Rugby have extended the residency qualification period from three to five years, to come into effect from January.
The governing body’s vice-chairman Agustin Pichot questioned Ireland’s decision to select South Africa-born Jean Kleyn ahead of Devin Toner for the World Cup, bringing the project player issue right back into the spotlight.
Pichot said he would be seeking “answers” from his own organisation in World Rugby were he Toner and facing that World Cup snub.
That sparked renewed debate over Ireland’s overseas-born contingent, with centre Chris Farrell hailing Aki in particular for laying down robust roots in Galway.
Admitting moving abroad has proved tough but entirely worthwhile, Aki pledged to keep on giving his all for Connacht and Ireland.
“When I first came over my ambition was to play at an international level, but obviously it’s never a given,” said Aki.
“It was such a hard decision to move over with my family but Ireland has welcomed me with open arms.
“Like I said, it was never given that I would play at international level. I had to put in the hard work, I had to put in week-by-week performances.
“Connacht have supported me from day one when I first arrived and Galway, everyone knows how friendly they are and how they are such good people. I call it my home at the moment and I’m sure people will feel like I’m one of them as well.”
– Press Association
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Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments