Bundee Aki has urged Ireland to guard against switching off against Scotland in Sunday’s Six Nations game at Murrayfield.
Holders Ireland dominated the second half in last weekend’s opening win over England.
However, the Irish were slow to start and conceded two late tries which allowed England to leave Dublin with a losing bonus point and Aki has warned his team-mates they cannot afford such lapses against Gregor Townsend’s side.
“Yeah I think the boys rectified it and spoke about it. We said that obviously if we switch off like that, in any part of the game, against Scotland, they will rip you apart,” said centre Aki, who scored Ireland’s second try in the 27-22 defeat of England.
“If Finn Russell sees those things he will absolutely take you into the gutters, and same as Duhan van der Merwe, Huw Jones, Darcy Graham.
“If anyone sort of switches off, they will absolutely cut you apart. We’ve just got to make sure that we’re mentally prepared, mentally sharp and make sure we’re on top of it from the first whistle to the last.”
The 34-year-old has also called on Ireland to display a ruthless edge against Scotland, who beat Italy in their opening game.
“The game at the weekend, there were obviously a few things in the first half which didn’t go our way or we didn’t stick the passes that we wanted to,” explained Aki.
“But we sort of found our way into it in the second half. Against Scotland, we probably won’t have those kind of chances throughout the game and we’ve got to make sure that we’re much more clinical.
“That’s the good thing about the squad, we get to improve on what we didn’t do well in the game.
“We’re obviously very proud of being able to adapt in the second half but we’re trying to be more clinical and accurate.”
