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ABs 'will come looking' for Aki – Marmion
By Liam Blackburn
New Zealand-born centre Bundee Aki will be fired up to play against the All Blacks for Ireland on Saturday, according to Kieran Marmion.
Aki will play at 12 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday when the Irish bid to defeat the only team above them in the Test rankings.
Although he hails from Auckland, the 28-year-old made his international debut for Ireland last November, having been with club side Connacht since 2014.
And Marmion believes the prospect of facing New Zealand this weekend will only serve as an inspiration to Aki.
"Playing the All Blacks won't bother him too much," Marmion told the Irish Times.
"It will probably just fire him up a bit more. We expect Bundee to go straight into them; he won't hold back. He will relish the challenge. It will be a pretty good spectacle to watch."
Marmion has spent the week sharing a room with his Connacht colleague and revealed that Aki is champing at the bit to play.
"He chatted quite a bit to me about it and I know he can't wait to get out there and have a shot at these guys," Marmion added.
"I am sure he will know he needs to stay calm and not be stupid. I am sure he is smart enough to that, as well.
"They will come looking for him, but he has played enough rugby and has enough experience to know not to do anything stupid. He is a tough lad so he will get on with it."
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Latest Comments
Pretty much now the only old fart retained from last year isn't he? Still has some solid legs under him but probably lucky he signed before Hutchinson got a chance to impress in the NPC (which I was surprised he did after I thought he stalled a lot of the U20's flair in the JRWC this year).
Go to commentsNo way Beauden gets a 9.5. He gave up possession too easily by kicking the ball away. Either too long or just aimless. One of those kicks lead directly to the Italians only try. He also missed the last tackle too, so he couldn't even clean up his mistake.
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