This is what a team looks like.
With all the noise and controversy swirling around the outside, a good team stays focused within their inner circle. They stay focused on the stuff they are in control of and the rest of it is just noise, irrelevant noise that they can do nothing about.
There’s no escaping the objections to the residency rule which has seen players like CJ Stander, Bundee Aki, Quinn Roux and Jared Payne represent Ireland and, in the arguments against, has seen Irish rugby players overlooked.
But there’s a team ethic developed there now. These players have committed their club careers to Ireland and pledged their allegiances to the country.
CJ Stander did learn Amhran na bhFiann. Good lad CJ #rugby #IREvWAL #RBS6Nations pic.twitter.com/olNpxIegtv
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 7, 2016
And, just like any coming-together of people from different backgrounds, you would hope that the culture exchange is a two-way street.
Well, Bundee Aki isn’t just a member who’s come in to the Ireland set-up – he’s a massive, massive part of the team now, as a player and as a character.
During the closing stages of the Grand Slam win in Twickenham, he was a picture of happiness.
And, right after the game, it was the New Zealand-born centre who led the way in celebration as he gathered the Irish team in what seems to be some sort of haka of their own.
Irish Rugby posted an amazing video of the day history was made in London and, at 8:15, you can see the squad circle around Aki as he instructs them on a chant that got them all going again.
