Bundee Aki

Early life Of Samoan descent, Aki was born in the Auckland suburb of Ōtāhuhu, to Hercules and Sautia Aki. He was named Fua Leiofi, but was called Bundellu after the doctor who delivered him. The nickname "Bundee" was given to him by a rugby coach at under-age level. Bundee is the second eldest of six children, with one brother and four sisters.

Aki grew up in Manurewa, a suburb in South Auckland, and attended Manurewa High School, where he played for the school's First XV rugby team. He took a year out from a professional rugby career in 2011, when he worked as a bank teller.

Club career Malaysia Aki played for the Borneo Eagles based in Sabah, East Malaysia.

Counties Manukau Aki began playing for Counties Manukau in the 2011 season. He made nine appearances for the side with five of these coming as starts, scoring three tries as they finished fourth in the Championship Division of the 2011 ITM Cup. In the 2012 ITM Cup, he played 11 of the team's 12 games, starting on each occasion and scoring six tries.

With Counties promoted to the Premiership Division, he played in all ten of their regular season games in the 2013 ITM Cup, starting eight of these, as the team qualified for the play-offs on their return to the top flight. Aki scored one try during the course of the season, with the score coming against Tasman in a 20–40 defeat.

2014 was Aki's final season with Counties, as it had been announced earlier in the year that he would be leaving New Zealand to join Irish side Connacht. He started all ten games as Counties finished fifth, two points outside the playoff places, in the 2014 ITM Cup, but did not score any points.

Chiefs In September 2012, it was announced that Aki had signed for reigning Super Rugby champions the Chiefs, having been part of the side's development set up previously. Aki came into the team for the 2013 Super Rugby season. He played in 13 of the side's 18 regular season games, starting 12 of these and scoring five tries, as Chiefs finished top of the table.

Aki played ten times for Chiefs in the regular season of the 2014 season, starting seven of these matches and scoring three tries. This was Aki's final game for the Chiefs, as it had been announced earlier in the year that he would be moving to Irish side, Connacht. He quickly became a key part of Connacht's setup, starting whenever fit and excelling on the pitch.

For his performances with Connacht during the 2015–16 Pro12 season, which saw the club win the Pro12 league for the first time. Aki was awarded the Player of the Year. On 25 October 2016, Aki signed a new contract to remain at Connacht until 2020. He became eligible to play for Ireland after completing three years of residence in the country in October 2017.

In November 2019, he signed a fresh three-year extension to his central contract, to keep him with Connacht until the summer of 2023 at least, the first Connacht player to sign a central deal with the union. His decision to extend his contract came after much media speculation about what his future may hold after a disappointing 2019 Rugby World Cup.

In October 2023, following Ireland's exit from the Rugby World Cup and Aki's nomination for World Player Of The Year, the IRFU announced Aki had extended his central contract, keeping him at Connacht to 2025.

On 17 December 2024, after much speculation over his future, Aki signed a one-year contract extension with Connacht and the IRFU until the end of the 2025–26 season.

International career Ireland call-up Aki was qualified to play for New Zealand, where he was born and raised, and Samoa, the country of origin of his parents. However, after completing a three-year residency period, he became eligible to represent Ireland on the international stage.

On 26 October 2017, Aki was named in the extended Ireland squad for the Autumn internationals. His inclusion came at a time when a growing number of players were qualifying to play for a foreign nation based on the three-year residency rule, which sparked a huge debate about eligibility rules in rugby union.

Parts of the media stated that he had no real connection with Ireland, was getting in the way of Irish talent going through the ranks, and questioned loyalty issues should Aki decide to move abroad after his contract was over thus ending his international career. His selection was criticised by some former internationals, including Neil Francis and Luke Fitzgerald, who was generally critical of the residency rule, but supported by others including Alan Quinlan and Chris Farrell. Aki acknowledged the criticism, admitting that a big part of his motivation to move to Ireland was to play international rugby, and noted that he hoped that he could do the country proud with his on-field performance.

Ireland career

Aki made his debut for Ireland in the 38–3 win against at the Aviva Stadium on 11 November 2017, playing the full 80 minutes. Two weeks later he played against , again featuring for the entire match in a 28–19 win.

In the 2018 Six Nations, Aki was the only centre to feature in every game for Ireland as they won the Grand Slam. Injuries to centre partners Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw and Chris Farrell meant that Aki started every match and was only replaced in the final game against due to injury. He was also part of the team's end-of season tour of Australia, which saw Ireland win a test series against for the first time since 1979.

Aki continued to be a regular starter for Ireland in the 2018–19 season. On 17 November 2018, he started against his native in a 16–9 win. This was Ireland's first victory over the All Blacks on home soil. Aki also featured in all five of Ireland's games in the 2019 Six Nations, as they finished third in a disappointing defence of their Grand Slam title.

In September 2019, Aki was named in the Irish squad for the upcoming World Cup in Japan. He started Ireland's opening game against , but was removed after only 20 minutes in the 27–3 win due to a head injury. This injury caused him to miss the next game against hosts Japan, which ended in a shock 19–12 defeat to leave Ireland in danger of elimination. Aki returned to the starting lineup for the following game against , and also started the final pool match against over but was sent off in the 29th minute of the 47–5 win. The red card resulted in a three-game suspension, ruling Aki out of the remainder of the tournament. Ireland were eliminated in the next round, as New Zealand ran out 46–14 victors in the quarter-finals.

Aki was banned for four games after receiving a red card for a high tackle on Billy Vunipola in Ireland's 32–18 win against England in the 2021 Six Nations Championship on 20 March.

He was called up to be part of the Irish squad for the 2023 Six Nations, which Ireland went on to win their fourth Grand Slam. Throughout the tournament he equalled the record for the most tries scored by an individual player for Ireland in a single world cup campaign, equalling the record set by Keith Earls with a total of five which he achieved at the 2011 tournament. He was one of four players nominated for Player of the Tournament following the completion of the World Cup. In January 2024, Aki was named the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Men's Players of The Year.

The Ireland squad for the 2024 Six Nations were announced in January, with Bundee being included. He received significant praise from the Evening Standard for his performances against Wales in a 31–7 victory for Ireland on 24 February. In November 2024, having lost his place in the side for a fixture against Argentina to Robbie Henshaw, he returned to the side for Ireland's 2024 Autumn Nation Series fixture against Fiji. He went on to score a try and win player-of-the-match as Ireland won 52–17.

In February 2025, he scored a try in the opening round of the 2025 Six Nations in a 27–22 win against England.

Initially named in the 2026 Six Nations squad for Ireland, Aki was dropped from the squad after a misconduct complaint relating to his behaviour towards referee Eoghan Cross at a provincial match against Leinster on 24 January. He was given a four game ban and as a consequence, missed the first three games of the 2026 Six Nations.

British & Irish Lions On 6 May 2021, Aki was named in the squad for the 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa. He made his test debut on 7 August 2021 in the final test. South Africa won the final test 19–16 and the series by two games to one. He was selected for the 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia and played a warm-up match before the tour at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin against Argentina, scoring the first try. However, the Lions ended up losing the game.

Personal life Aki grew up and went to school with former Chiefs teammate Tim Nanai-Williams. Aki lives in Oranmore, a suburb of Galway city.

On 16 September 2024, Aki was granted Irish citizenship; he maintains dual citizenship.

Career statistics List of international tries

Honours Chiefs 1× Super Rugby: 2013

Connacht 1× Pro12: 2016 1× Pro12 Player of the Season: 2016 1× Pro12 Dream Team: 2016

Ireland 3× Six Nations Championship: 2018, 2023, 2024 2× Grand Slam: 2018, 2023 5× Triple Crown: 2018, 2022, 2023, 2025, 2026

Individual 1× World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year Nominee: 2023 1x Ireland Men's XVs players’ player of the year: 2024