The centre missed the opening three rounds of the Six Nations but is now back in the squad
Ireland centre Bundee Aki has returned to Andy Farrell’s Six Nations squad and will be in contention to face Wales on Friday after serving his ban for abusing match officials.
The 35-year-old was suspended for four matches after being found guilty of “verbal abuse and disrespect” towards officials during Connacht’s United Rugby Championship defeat to Leinster in January. After being summoned to a disciplinary hearing, he was dropped from Farrell’s championship squad and missed Ireland’s opening three games against France, Italy and England.
However, after returning to rugby in Connacht’s URC victory over Glasgow Warriors on Saturday, Aki is back in the Irish squad as part of a triple boost for Farrell, with Leinster duo Jimmy O’Brien and Robbie Henshaw also back in contention ahead of the Wales clash.
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Both O’Brien and Henshaw had been left out of the initial 37-man tournament squad due to injury, but both played the full 80 minutes in their province’s narrow defeat to Cardiff on Friday night.
Aki and O’Brien have both already linked back up with Farrell’s squad, with Henshaw expected to return early this week.
The trio’s return is a timely boost for Ireland, who bounced back from their opening round defeat to France with a hard-fought win against Italy and a record away victory over England.
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They have already lost wing James Lowe for the remainder of the tournament due to a groin injury, while fly-half Harry Byrne is also out after suffering a concussion against Cardiff on Friday.
Forward Cormac Izuchukwu, meanwhile, is continuing his graduated return to play protocols after sustaining a concussion in training and has been ruled out of facing Wales.
It comes as Ireland star Tadhg Beirne says he is expecting another improved Welsh performance when Steve Tandy’s side take to the field at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night.
“They’ve been improving game on game,” he said. “The scorelines probably haven’t painted them in the best picture in terms of how well they’ve played in parts of those games.
“They were very close to getting the win against Scotland and that performance is going to give them a lot of confidence coming in against us.”
Despite the off-field uncertainty in Welsh rugby, Beirne added: “They’ll just be focusing on the rugby and trying to put their best performances out there.”
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