‘It wasn't supposed to be a jibe' – Joe Schmidt clarifies comments about Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipolotu
Debate about Lions' foreign legion rages on ahead of opening Test
Rúaidhrí O'Connor in Perth
Joe Schmidt insists he did not mean to criticise Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu when he referred to them as 'a Southern Hemisphere centre partnership' when they were selected to play for the Lions against Argentina last week.
The issue of nationality has been a major theme in the build up to the tour after Andy Farrell selecting five players who qualify to play for their national teams on residency in Ireland's James Lowe, Jamison Gibson-Park and Bundee Aki and Scotland's Duhan van der Merwe and Pierre Schoeman as well as Australians Sione Tuipulotu and Mack Hansen who have a Scottish grandmother and Irish mother respectively.
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