Schmidt dished out some 'hard words' in the post-match dressing-room, Aki reveals
Bundee Aki has admitted Ireland have six days to salvage their World Cup preparations.
Ireland leaked eight tries en route to their heaviest-ever defeat by England in Saturday’s 57-15 thumping at Twickenham.
Joe Schmidt’s men now face Wales in Cardiff on Saturday before hosting Warren Gatland’s side a week later in Dublin, with their World Cup opener against Scotland fast approaching on September 22.
Connacht centre Aki lamented Ireland’s heaviest loss under head coach Schmidt, conceding only a back-to-basics approach will now suffice.
“We’ve got six days to turn this around, to be able to put in a performance we’re proud of,” said New Zealand-born Aki.
“We’ve got to make sure we don’t replicate that kind of performance. So it’s time to put in some good, quality training and get back to the drawing board.
“We’d rather get things wrong now than in the future. But we were very slow-footed against England, and we are disappointed.
“England are a quality side; give them a sniff and they will blow you away, and that’s exactly what they did to us.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do; we were off the boil completely. It doesn’t get any easier at all, going to Wales, but in a way that’s the best thing.”
Rampant England ripped through Ireland at every possible opportunity on Saturday, becoming the first team to put more than 50 points on Schmidt’s Ireland.
Only New Zealand have ever scored more points in one match against Ireland, with Eddie Jones’ England flexing some serious World Cup muscle.
Joe Cokanasiga scored twice, with Elliot Daly, Manu Tuilagi, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Tom Curry and Luke Cowan-Dickie all also crossing.
Aki and Jordan Larmour scored for Ireland, but the visitors were nearing full-strength and still received a comprehensive and troubling hiding.
Aki revealed boss Schmidt dished out some home truths in the post-match dressing-room debrief – but insisted the dejected players hardly needed any telling.
“I think all the boys knew what the reality was,” said Aki. “Joe gave us a few hard words which was fair enough.
“But now it’s about how the boys bounce back, and take it forward from here.
“We’ve got to get the basics right first, make our tackles, dominate our tackles, get in the line together and get out set-piece right first, before we start thinking about anything else.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Pls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
124 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
124 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
124 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
4 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
124 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
4 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to comments