Bundee Aki

Bundee Aki is a player I find genuinely fascinating as a story about identity in modern rugby. Born in Otahuhu, New Zealand, of Samoan heritage, he qualified for Ireland on residency and became an Irish citizen in 2024 while keeping dual citizenship. As a centre at Connacht he plays with a physicality that's hard to ignore, and I think his journey says a lot about how international rugby actually works now. The residency route still sparks debate, but watching him commit so fully to Irish rugby, I came away seeing him less as a transplant and more as someone who earned his place.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Bundee Aki

Name (Japanese)

バンディー・アキ

Reading

ばんでぃー・あき

Born

April 7, 1990 (age 36)

Origin

Ōtāhuhu, New Zealand

Height

178 cm

Occupation

rugby union player

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aries / Horse

High school

Manurewa High School

University

University of Auckland

• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/bundeeaki/
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundee%20Aki
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%90%E3%83%B3%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A2%E3%82%AD
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4997511

Tags

• rugby union player

Last updated

September 18, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.