Ireland 13-24 South Africa: Ireland 'moving in the right direction'
Ireland centre Bundee Aki said his side is "moving in the right direction" despite their 24-13 defeat by South Africa, which came at the end of a mixed Autumn Nations Series.Andy Farrell's side fell short against New Zealand in Chicago, had an unconvincing win over Japan before roaring back with a record victory over Australia.They finished the year with a chaotic loss against the world champions, but Aki believes they have taken "a lot of good learnings" from their four games with the Six Nations on the horizon."Like we said at the start, from how poorly we started, there were some learnings there. We improved for Japan, more improvement again Australia," he said."They are world champions for a reason, but I think we're moving in the right direction, and I think this game will stand to us."I thought there was bloody good stuff from the boys there from the beginning right to the end. We have to regroup, go back to the drawing board and have a look at ourselves."Ireland will not be in action again until their Six Nations opener against France in Paris in February.As a result, Aki knows he and his teammates must park the autumn games and perform well for their clubs until then to give Ireland the best chance of wrestling back the championship crown."We finish the Autumn Nations Series now, we close that book, and I need to put my best foot forward for Connacht and be able to be playing well, giving the best for the team and put my hand up whenever I can," he added."There's loads of belief in that changing room. We back ourselves to be honest with each other and go again."
