24 MINUTES IN and Ireland are under the pump five metres out from their own tryline.
South Africa have a midfield scrum, the prime location from which to strike and score.
Scrum-half Faf de Klerk scoops the ball from the base and breaks right as out-half Manie Libbok and fullback Damian Willemse swing that way too. De Klerk has those options out the back but also has powerful centre Jesse Kriel running a hard, flat line just to his right.
De Klerk goes for the front-door option and it briefly looks like Kriel’s momentum will carry him to the tryline for a South African score. But Bundee Aki stops him dead in his tracks.
As we can see above, Ireland centre Aki stops coming forward as he looks to cover Kriel’s run, which initially makes it look as if Kriel’s powerful run will be able to take him to within reaching distance of the tryline even with the likelihood of contact.
But Aki’s tackle is so precise that Kriel is instantly brought to ground even as he ‘wins’ the initial collision.
Aki’s technique is superb as he gets his lead left leg as close as possible to Kriel, allowing him to firmly plant his left shoulder into Kriel’s thighs, and wrap his arms to completely debilitate Kriel’s legs.
Aki then swings straight back up onto his feet and is instantly a jackal threat over the ball, which Kriel recognises by throwing a forced offload up to Springboks captain Siya Kolisi, who doesn’t expect it and knocks the ball on.
It’s a significant piece of defending from Aki after nearly five minutes of intense pressure on Ireland inside their own 22.
The turnover allows James Lowe to clear with a kick and though it doesn’t find touch, Ireland’s defence comes up with another big play as James Ryan and Tadhg Beirne hammer Kolisi in a chop tackle to force a second knock-on.
Ireland’s celebrations of the successful end to this passage are hearty, as we see below.
They know they’ve survived one of the onslaughts that usually end with a Springboks score.
Aki’s tackle on Kriel is key to the pressure being lifted, even if this passage of defence doesn’t completely shift the momentum. For that to happen, Aki steps up in attack.
It’s five minutes later when Ireland feed a scrum just outside their own 22 and though Jamison Gibson-Park bobbles the ball away from the base, he recovers to hit Connacht man Aki, whose immense power and pace carry him all the way to the Boks 22.
Aki goes right through Libbok, recognising the mismatch and dropping his weight into the Boks out-half’s tackle attempt to sit him down on the ground.
The acceleration from Aki is then quite startling, even if we had already seen examples like this in the World Cup for tries against Romania and Tonga. Aki is in perhaps the best physical condition of his career and his pace has rarely been so prominent.
A couple of phases after his break, Aki has a nice touch on the ball as he steps in at first receiver and plays a late pass for Peter O’Mahony to carry.
The Boks do recover and begin to send Ireland backwards in the next few phases, but the Irish inside centre is involved once again as Farrell’s team regather momentum.
It’s a clever pass from Johnny Sexton that allows Aki to make more yards, with the Ireland captain feigning to kick in behind before suddenly lifting a pass out to Aki near the left touchline.
As we see below, Aki accelerates and offloads one-handed inside to Lowe.
Lowe can’t find another offload but the stretched, strained Boks concede a penalty at this breakdown as Franco Mostert fails to release in the tackle.
Ireland score their only try of the game through Mack Hansen from the ensuing five-metre lineout on the left.
While Aki’s role in the try itself isn’t glamorous as he makes a direct carry – he was Ireland’s top carrier with 14 – then holds width on the left-hand side, there’s no doubt about his importance in getting Ireland into position to score it. His tackle and linebreak were game-changing moments.
Like all of his Ireland team-mates, Aki never stopped playing at Stade de France.
On a night when he won his 50th Ireland cap, he was prominent in the dramatic final minutes of the 13-8 win, making an excellent tackle and breakdown turnover.
Having previously been something of a glue player for Ireland, the kind of person who did lots of the less heralded work that allowed others to grab the headlines, Aki has been delivering lots of standout moments of late.
He is arguably the form centre in the World Cup so far and the 33-year-old looks likely to be key if Ireland are going to go all the way.