Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
AKI ’ S OK
Red won’t change centre
BUNDEE AKI insists his World Cup red card won’t change him.
The centre’s first half dismissal for a high tackle on Ulupano Seuteni in Ireland’s final pool game against Samoa saw him slapped with a three-week ban that ruled him out of the quarter-final against New Zealand.
With close family in the Fukuoka stands, the Connacht star was devastated. In mitigation, Aki had barely a moment to size up the situation as he moved to tackle the out-half.
Over three months on, he concedes he could have been better in that moment. “As a rugby player you’ve just to take whatever decision they’ve made on it. I didn’t help with the shoulder on the head and I take some of the blame,” he said.
“I just had to live with it, prepare the boys as well as I could the following week and go from there really.
“If you look at it, how fast it happened, it’s an instinct. It’s a reaction.
“It’s the way we grow up as rugby players, you just follow your instinct. If you think about it you’d go back and try and adjust – to be really clinical about the way you tackled. Yes, I should have went lower. Yes, I should have slowed my feet down. Yes, I should’ve done this and that. But it just happened so quick.
“Everyone around me, my family, realised how disappointed I was finishing the World Cup.”
It’s a sign of the faith that Andy Farrell has in the 29-year-old that, despite Robbie Henshaw’s part in Leinster’s success so far this season, he has gone with Aki to partner Garry Ringrose against Scotland.
Aki clearly hasn’t allowed the sending off on the world stage to change his abrasive approach.
“I never want to step on that field to lose, never ever, never will,” he explained. “I want to play the best I can, put my best foot forward and wear my heart on my sleeve.
“It’s always special to put on that green jersey and I haven’t put it on since the World Cup. I’ll be doing every I can to help out this team and trying to play very well.”
But it will take time for the wound to heal.
“It does linger for a while,” Aki admitted. “But you still have to play the game you want to play – play as hard as you can, as best as you can.
“It was unfortunate, pretty disappointing at my end, but I get a chance now to put the jersey back on and make everyone proud again. Hopefully I’ll play in the jersey with a lot of pride.”