British and Irish Lions: Bundee Aki says his partnership with Sione Tuipulotu has ‘got to get better’

Bundee Aki says it was “frustrating” that he did not link up better with midfield partner Sione Tuipulotu in the British and Irish Lions’ defeat by Argentina in Dublin on Friday.

Andy Farrell’s side were beaten 28-24 by the Pumas in what was their sole warm-up fixture before they head to Australia for a nine-game tour that includes three Tests against the Wallabies.

While there were encouraging signs with ball in hand, too often key passes did not stick and Aki felt he did not “connect well” with his fellow centre.

“We all know how Sione is as a player, he’s class,” said Aki, who was also on the Lions’ tour to South Africa four years ago.

“The frustrating thing for me was I wasn’t able to connect well with him. He’s an unbelievable player and there’s no excuse, we’ve got to get better as a partnership going forward.”

After the stuttering start for the touring side, Aki believes individual combinations improving will be “better and beneficial for the group”.

“He speaks out loud, which is good because that’s what we need, him being himself and I just feed off him and he feeds off me. So it’s brilliant,” Aki said.

“We’ve just got to be better at it and keep learning together, the more we grow as a partnership and then as a group, it’s going to be better and beneficial for the group.”

Tuipulotu and Aki would both more regularly be deployed as inside centres, while fellow tourists Garry Ringrose, Huw Jones and Elliot Daly are all more used to wearing the 13 jersey.

Tuipulotu has an established partnership with Jones for both Glasgow and Scotland, while Aki and Ringrose know each other well from Irish sides.

Aki added: “Whoever it is, Garry, Huw, Elliot, as a unit we’ve got to make sure we gel together and try to get that cohesiveness fairly quick because we need to be better.”