‘Bolter’ Bundee Aki treads a fine line as he targets Lions jersey

Bundee Aki: Eager for action with the Lions. Picture: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Bundee Aki may have been dubbed a ‘bolter’ in Warren Gatland’s British and Irish Lions squad but it’s not hard to discern why the Kiwi coach felt his fellow New Zealander had something to offer when they hit South Africa in the coming weeks.

Aki is a calm almost timid presence in front of a microphone and yet a force of nature in a dressing room. The type of personality who can illuminate and ignite a squad long before he crosses that white line.

His worth only multiplies at that point. Now 31, he has years of experience with Counties Manukau, the Chiefs, Connacht, and Ireland to his credit, an ability to make things happen in attack and the nous and physicality to break an opposing team’s intent.

The main question mark over him as he steps up his bid for an unlikely Test spot is the presence of his record of two red cards in his last nine games for Ireland, the first against Samoa in the 2019 World Cup and the other against England in March.

Both were identical in the sense that they resulted in unintentional contact with the opponent’s head. He has no truck with either decision, or the move towards making the game safer. The onus, he knows, is on him to adapt.

“There is a fine line,” he said from the Lions’s training base in Jersey and ahead of Saturday’s tour opener against Japan at Murrayfield. “You’ve just got to make sure you keep working week in, week out. I do it all the time.”

It’s hard to see him make the Test side. Who Gatland picks at centre will depend on the identity of his out-half, and other associated considerations, but Owen Farrell probably has enough credit in the bank to get the No.12 jersey.

Farrell, incidentally, was one of the five Saracens players who joined up with the squad in Jersey yesterday on the back of their Championship title success while Finn Russell also clocked in after Racing 92’s defeat to La Rochelle in the Top 14 semi-final.

Still, Aki’s wares are tempting, not least against a Springbok centre pairing of Damian De Allende and Lukhanyo Am which, if reunited this summer, has the potential to repeat the damage it did to opposing sides in their successful World Cup campaign,

“I haven’t played against Lukhanyo Am, I have played against De Allende. He’s a world-class player, I don’t think anyone would say otherwise. Even Lukhanyo Am, those two are bloody great footballers, they’ve got threats to run the ball or pass the ball outside when they need to.

“So, it’s not just their running game or their physicality. They have everything else as well. It would be a huge honour to get a chance to come up against some of those guys because they’re the best team in the world. That’s why they’re world champions.”

Aki’s delight at being given this opportunity with the Lions has been obvious since the squad was named and he spoke again yesterday (when asked) about his journey from the time he gave up club rugby to work in a bank and support his young family to the here and now.

And of the sacrifices along the way.

Working and living on the far side of the world to much of his family hasn’t been easy and there will be relations tuning in to the Lions games from New Zealand, Australia, and Samoa in the weeks to come.

As with all things in life, there must be naysayers. The fact that the Lions have been guided by a Kiwi coach for the last decade and more hasn’t sat well with everyone. Nor has the presence of southern hemisphere-born players such as Aki or Duhan van der Merwe.

It’s a ludicrously myopic view of a concept that was born in the height of what was the British empire and a touring side which has boasted players born south of the equator in its ranks since, at the very least, 1904.

Aki experienced similar misgivings before and after he made his debut for Ireland, against South Africa in November of 2011, and his response to it this time was much the same as it has been every time that has raised its head.

“Look, for me as a person, people have their opinions and people have the right to express their opinions.

“At the end of the day, that’s what I had to do for my family and from the get-go all the decisions that I’ve made have been to make it better for me and my family. Like I said, people have their opinions and that’s for them to share. I have nothing against them.”