Former Ireland head coach Eddie O'Sullivan has said Bundee Aki has imprinted his identity on Connacht to the extent he defines their whole cultural philosophy.
Pro12 Player of the Year Aki has been inspirational for the Westerners in their charge to the final of the competition.
Pat Lam's men have defied the odds time and again to set up a mouthwatering Murrayfield showdown with Leinster this Saturday, and New Zealander Aki has been the heart and soul of their swashbuckling rise.
Speaking on RTÉ's Against The Head, O'Sullivan said: “He's certainly a huge figure on the team, obviously as a player, but culturally as well. He’s the fulcrum of the team culture.
"He's bought into the culture, he's bought into being in Galway, he's part of it.
"You've a good mesh between a team that are comfortable in their skins playing a fairly high-risk game, have bought into it, it's been successful, they're now confident with it and they're prepared to run with it.
"There's this whole community around the game in Connacht and Galway and there's a kind of a cultural shift there as well where they feel confident in themselves, confident in what they're doing.
"They're energised by the buzz of the whole thing"
Donal Lenihan said the players, fans and greater Galway community have been bound together in a movement that gathers more and more momentum with every game.
"They're energised by the buzz of the whole thing," he said.
"People say, 'will they be able to get for next Saturday?' That's not a problem. The problem is how you can tie them down.
"The fans are in an hour and a half before the match so the buzz starts an hour and a half before that match.
"The players come in, they're surrounded immediately they're put into this cauldron. It reminds me of where Munster where 12 or 13 years ago when they were beating teams they'd no right to beat and there was this movement happening where supports and players were invested in each other.
"The scenes after the game were as close as you'll get to an All-Ireland final. It’s phenomenal."
