British & Irish Lions star's baby born in car before first match of series
British and Irish Lions star Bundee Aki has confessed that, whilst he was playing in Australia, his wife gave birth to their fifth child in the car.
The Ireland international was playing Down Under, taking part in his second Lions tour, when his wife was on her way to the hospital after she felt contractions, only for her waters to break en route. She ended up giving birth to another child whilst she was still on the road. This happened ahead of the First Test in Australia, just over a fortnight ago.
The first of Aki's five children was born in hospital and the next three at home. But their latest, Aine, entered the world in the back of a car in New Zealand. His wife Kayla had headed back there to visit family whilst Aki represented the Lions.
After helping the Lions end a 12 year wait for a series victory the Connacht star revealed that he was yet to meet the latest member of his offspring, something he had kept quiet throughout the tour's final few weeks.
He told the BBC: "I haven't seen my family for eight weeks. I have a newborn child who I haven't met yet." Aki added: "Credit to my wife.." before going on to explain the remarkable event.
He said: "It was a good day. I was in the team hotel. I knew we were overdue. The missus calls me and she's like, 'My water hasn't broken but I'm going to the hospital, I'm feeling contractions'. We were getting ready for the team meeting pre-match and she calls back and says she's now on the way to the hospital.
"Five minutes later, she sends a photo - her water had broken. I was like, 'Cool, OK, are you almost there?' This is like 30 or 40 minutes away from the hospital. I said, 'You'll be all right, Mum is there'. Ten minutes later, she video calls. I was like, 'What's going on?' - and I saw a baby on the video call. She had it in the car on the way to the hospital. They're both strong and healthy, so happy days."
The First Test is the only one he did not start, coming on in the 57th minute as the Lions secured a 27-19 victory following a stellar opening 50 minutes. Aki admits he knew they were on for a winning start after receiving the news of his latest arrivals.
"I knew it was good 'Juju' [a magical property bringing good luck]. I knew we were going to have a good day," he said. All my kids start with A and my wife loved the name Aine. That's five As in the family - Armani, Adrianna, Andronicus, Ailbhe, and now Aine."
Aki played in the centres again with Huw Jones on Saturday as the Lions missed out on making it a clean sweep in Australia. The Wallabies produced a spirited performance in Sydney to down Andy Farrell's men and restore some pride with the series already beyond them.
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