Bundee Aki had a typical Bundee Aki game. And by that we mean sensationally all-action.
The Kiwi was an inspiration, yet again, for the westerners as they dumped reigning champs Glasgow out with a 16-11 win. Next stop, a final date with Leinster at Murrayfield.
Aki teed up Niyi Adeolukon for Connacht’s only try but delivered so much more. 55 metres made off 14 carries, three defenders beaten and two offloads. In defence, he made five crunching tackles and won his team three turnovers.
More Aki roadkill https://t.co/miNtWSoUe5
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 21, 2016
Aki’s leg was heavily strapped for the game and he was withdrawn when it looked as though Adeolukon had got a second. The try was ruled out and Connacht had to face into the last 14 minutes without their backline talisman.
Post-match, Connacht coach Pat Lam revealed how close Aki came to missing the semi-final.
“He’s a warrior; jeez he’s a warrior.
“He twisted his knee training on Tuesday. We did the contact session and were all in the huddle and I said ‘Right, good’.
“The boys then do their skills for 10 minutes. They decide what they want to do. Some of the backs decided they wanted to do more tackling.
“I was watching some of the catch-pass drills of some of the forwards when, out of the corner of my eye, I looked over said ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’
“Bundee was on the ground and his knee had been twisted when [two of the lads] tackled him. I thought ‘Right, okay, ignore it’. I carried on over there and let the medics deal with it. He left here on crutches.”
Lam was prepared to wait until a minute before kick-off to give Aki the most time possible to prove he was ready for another mammoth challenge. The coach said:
“The medical team did a great job on him. They wanted to do a fitness test on him and I said, ‘No, no. You’ve got until 6:29pm on Saturday to work out if he’s going to make it’.
“I asked what the fitness test was going to be and they told me. I told them our gameday warm-up is tougher than that so we’ll just go with that.
“We had Peter Robb training [in his position] for the rest of the week in case he didn’t make it. It would be a bonus if he did.
“I saw him yesterday and he was keen to get out to the Captain’s Run. I said, ‘No, no. Take it easy’.
“When we arrived at the stadium [today], I came in and our fitness people were with him. I gave him a thumbs up and he gave me one right back. Good, so… he’s tough.”
Come Monday morning, Lam will be hoping to the highest powers that Aki flashes another thumbs up in his direction. Leinster are next and Connacht need him.
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