Murray Kinsella Reports from Quinta do Lago

IRELAND WILL CONSIDER Bundee Aki for selection in the closing two rounds of the upcoming Six Nations, with the Connacht centre to miss the first three games of the championship due to a suspension.

Aki was banned for four games for directing “verbal abuse and disrespect” at the match officials in charge of Connacht’s defeat to Leinster in the URC last weekend. An independent disciplinary panel found that Aki did so on “several occasions” after the game in Galway.

Andy Farrell and Ireland took the unusual step of dropping Aki from their Six Nations squad before the disciplinary hearing started yesterday, with uncapped Ulster centre Jude Postlethwaite called up in his place. The statement from the IRFU said the union “does not tolerate any form of disrespect shown towards match officials.”

Ireland are continuing their preparations for next Thursday’s Six Nations opener against France without Aki, and he will also be unavailable for the games against Italy and England, as well as Connacht’s URC clash with Zebre this weekend.

But Aki could come into contention again for the closing two games of Ireland’s campaign against Wales and Scotland in Dublin. 

“Of course, a player of Bundee’s calibre that’s done great things in the Irish jersey before will definitely be considered,” said Ireland assistant coach Andrew Goodman at their training camp in Portugal today.

“But for now, we’re working with the guys that we’ve got, and when you look at Jude Postlethwaite coming into the camp for the first time and the excitement that he’s shown over these first couple of days.

“We’ve got Tom Farrell, obviously who made his debut in November, who’s been consistently good for Munster. Ringer and then obviously Stu, who for us in November was one of our standout players. They’re really ready to go, and we’re working with them and looking forward to that.”

Goodman said that he couldn’t discuss the details of the incidents Aki was involved in after Connacht’s clash with Leinster, but the Ireland assistant said the Ireland set-up would support the 68-times capped centre after his ban.

“First of all, I’d say that we know respect is a massive part of the game we play, and referees are obviously a big part of that as well,” said Goodman. “So, we take that very seriously.

“The other thing is that we’ve got huge support for Bundee. I’ve worked with him for the last couple of years, but known him a lot longer than that, so I know he’s a great character and he’s made a mistake, and we’re going to help him work through it. And, yeah, that’s all I’ll say about that.”

Former Ireland captain Johnny Sexton, who is now one of Andy Farrell’s assistant coaches, was banned for three games for misconduct after his interactions with the match officials in the wake of Leinster’s Champions Cup final loss to La Rochelle in 2023.

Last year, Ireland international Mack Hansen was banned for three games for criticising the match officials involved in Connacht’s URC defeat to Leinster in Dublin.

Recently, several referees have taken issue with the Irish provinces for their communication during games.

Goodman said that the three incidents involving Sexton, Hansen, and Aki took place outside the Ireland environment, but he stressed that Farrell’s squad regularly discuss their discipline in a bid to improve it.

“Of course, I’m sure like any other team we talk about discipline,” said Goodman.

“We talk about respect for referees and it’s not something… obviously, the three incidents have all happened outside of this Irish environment but with them being players here, we talk about discipline and we know the importance of it.”