Conor Murray has spoken out in defence of new Ireland International Bundee Aki, saying the New Zealand native has received unfair criticism, as seen in Ruaidhri O’Connor’s piece in today’s Irish Independent.

Connacht centre, Aki, has impressed since joining the province in 2014 and is expected to make his international debut for his adopted country on Saturday against South Africa.

The Auckland born centre, qualifies to play for Ireland on residency grounds and will most likely go directly into Joe Schmidt’s team for the weekends clash with the Springboks.

The rules around residency will change as of 2020, while Aki is the most recent player to qualify under the old laws.

The decision to include him has come in for criticism, especially as Irish-born Simon Zebo has been left out of the squad following his anouncement that he will be moving to France to play his club rugby.

“It’s tough on a player like that, he came over here and played rugby and qualified for Ireland the right way,” Murray said.

“I know people have different opinions on that, but singling a player out like that is really unfair. Bundee hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“We’re lucky to have him in our squad, it’s unfair for someone to feel that heat off the media when he hasn’t done anything wrong.”

You can read original article in the link below.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/international-rugby/article36298255.ece