Bundee Aki: My wife gave birth on day of first Test, now I can meet baby
The Ireland centre was about to get on the Lions team bus to the first Test of the series against Australia in Brisbane when he received some panicked messages from his wife, Kayla, who was in New Zealand.
'I knew we were overdue,' Aki said. 'The missus calls me and she's like, 'Water hasn't broken, but I'm going to the hospital, I'm feeling contractions'.
'She goes to the hospital, we're getting ready for the team meeting pre-match, and then she calls me and says she's on the way to the hospital, so I said, 'Fine, be safe'. Five minutes later, she sends a photo, her water broke. I was like, 'Cool, OK, are you almost there?'
'She is like 30 or 40 minutes away from the hospital, so I said, 'You'll be alright, Mum is there'.
'Then ten minutes later, she video calls me and I was like, 'Shit, what's going on?' I saw a baby on the video call, so she had it in the car on the way to the hospital. They're both strong and healthy, so happy days. Credit to my wife. She's a powerful woman, a strong woman.'
All of Aki's children's names begin with an A. So new arrival Aine joined Armani-Jade, Adrianna, Andronicus and Ailbhe. When Aki knew his wife and daughter were safe, he knew it was a good omen for him and the Lions, on their way to the Suncorp Stadium. He came off the bench as the Lions won 27-19.
'I knew it was good juju. So I knew we were going to have a good day,' he said.
Despite the 22-12 defeat in the final Test in Sydney, a day Aki may choose to forget, he has had a memorable tour. At 35, it will be his second and last with the Lions, having toured South Africa in 2021 too.
He rates it as his best experience in rugby, and would love Andy Farrell, the head coach, to lead the touring side again in New Zealand.
'Obviously there's quite a few up there, Six Nations at home, grand slam, the New Zealand tour [in 2022, in which Ireland won the All Blacks series 2-1],' Aki said, rating this 2025 Lions tour against his other career highlights.
'The Lions is every four years, coming to Australia, being the first team to go back-to-back to win the series against Australia — it's up there. You could ask anybody in this team, not just the players, the staff. They have enjoyed every single moment and they can see why us Irish people love having Faz [Andy Farrell] as our coach. There's no better man to be able to do it [coach the Lions in 2029].
'He just made everyone feel themselves so they can enjoy this tour and this campaign. It's not just the players he made feel comfortable. It's the whole staff, everyone enjoyed each other's company. You only wish you could be in that group of people. It's been unbelievable.
'He was exactly the same person as he is with us [Ireland]. Most of the boys were always asking, 'What's Faz like?'. And I go, 'I'm telling you, he's such a good coach, he's such a good person, he brings the best out of people, and you're going to enjoy your time'.
'Only so many people can say they've been on two tours or have won a series. We won the series and that's all we got here for and we'd have loved a clean sweep but it didn't happen.'
For Aki, though, there will be more gifts waiting for him when he heads home.
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