Bundee Aki has revealed he missed the birth of his fifth child to play in Great Britain and Ireland's first Test match against Australia.
Aki played 23 minutes as a substitute against the Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium on July 19, just hours after his wife Kayla gave birth to Aine in New Zealand.
The 35-year-old Ireland centre-forward took the arrival of the healthy baby as a sign for the Lions' 27-19 victory, which put them on course for success in the series.
“I want to enjoy my vacation and time with my family. I haven't seen my family for eight weeks. I have a newborn baby that I haven't met yet,” Aki shared.
“I thank my wife – she is a strong and determined woman. I have to tell her this. If you knew what happened, it would be a very funny story.”
“It was a wonderful day. I was in the hotel. I knew the labor was dragging on. My wife called me and said, 'My water hasn't broken yet, but I'm going to the hospital, I'm feeling contractions.' I said, 'Okay, I get it.'
“She's heading to the hospital and we're getting ready for the team meeting before the match and then she calls me and says she's going to the hospital, so I say, 'Take care of yourself.'
“Five minutes later she sent a photo, my water broke. I was like, 'Cool, you're there yet?' It's like 30 to 40 minutes from the hospital, so I was like, 'It'll be fine, Mom's there.'
“Damn, ten minutes later she video called me and I was like, 'What's going on?' I saw the baby on the video call, so she was driving him in the car on the way to the hospital. They're both strong and healthy, so best wishes to you!”
“I knew it was a good sign, so I was confident we would have a wonderful day.”
The Lions won the series in Melbourne the following weekend, winning 29-26. It was the first of two consecutive starts for Aki, who was also part of the 2021 tour to South Africa.
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Sourse: breakingnews.ie
