Bundee Aki reveals he missed birth of fifth child to play in first Lions Test
Aki completed 23 minutes as a replacement against the Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium on July 19 just hours after his wife Kayla had given birth to Aine in their native New Zealand.
And the 35-year-old Ireland centre saw the delivery of a healthy baby as an omen for the Lions' resounding 27-19 victory that set them on the path to a series triumph.
'I want to enjoy my break, my family time. I haven't seen my family for eight weeks. I have a newborn child who I haven't met yet,' Aki said.
'Credit to my wife – she's a powerful woman, a strong woman. I have to say it to her. If you only knew the story of what happened, it's a funny story in itself.
'It was a good day. I was in the hotel. I knew we were overdue. The missus calls me and she's like, 'Water hasn't broke but I'm going to the hospital, I'm feeling contractions.' I go, 'Yeah, fair enough'.
'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?'. This is like 30 or 40 minutes away from the hospital, so I said, 'You'll be all right, mum is there'.
'Ten minutes later she video calls me and I was like, 'S***, 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!
'I knew it was good Juju, I knew it was good Juju, so I knew we were going to have a good day.'
The Lions clinched the series in Melbourne the following weekend by emerging 29-26 winners in what was the first of two successive starts for Aki, who was also part of the 2021 expedition to South Africa.
'Only so many people can say they've been on two tours or have won a series,' he said.
'Honestly, I can't say anything high enough of this bunch of boys, the team, the staff. It's been one of the most enjoyable tours I've ever been on. It's so good.
'The Lions is every four years so coming to Australia, being the first team to go back-to-back to win the series against Australia – it's up there.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
6 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The Knox Grammar curse: As an old boy is accused of the unthinkable, we reveal the scandals the private school wants you to forget - and the horror story that made Kyle Sandilands tear up his son's application
Tucked away in Sydney 's leafy Wahroonga, Knox Grammar is one of Australia's most prestigious schools - home to rugby stars, old money and generations of tradition. It's the kind of place where blazers are pressed, surnames carry weight and relationships are formed that can last a lifetime.
Daily Mail
34 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Fate of Victoria Park stadium in doubt after Indigenous group called for the Brisbane site to be protected
The fate of a 63,000-seat Olympic stadium is hanging in the balance after an Indigenous group lodged a long-term protection order on the site. The Yagara Magandjin Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC) on Tuesday asked the federal government to block the massive construction in Victoria Park in central Brisbane. YMAC claimed the park was one of the city's 'most significant' First Nations sites. If the application is successful, the Queensland Government would have to find a new location for the centrepiece of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Victoria Park is managed by Brisbane City Council, but new state legislation last month determined Olympic venues are exempt from heritage and planning laws. YMAC spokeswoman and Yagarabul elder Gaja Kerry Charlton told the ABC the park, which has the Indigenous name Barrambin, is significant to local Aboriginal people. 'Barrambin is living Country. We know this place is of great significance and history. It was a complete shock when the premier came out with his stadium plans,' she said. 'We are very concerned there are ancient trees, artefacts and very important ecosystems existing there. There may be ancestral remains.' YMAC lodged the protection order application under Section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act (ATSIHP). The act allows the Commonwealth to prevent damage to 'significant Aboriginal areas' and would overrule the new state law. Yagara elder Uncle Steven said Victoria Park should be protected as there were 'not many places left around south-east Queensland that still contain that significance in cultural heritage'. 'If that [stadium] goes ahead, we lose part of our history. It's not only First Nations history, it's Australia's history, Brisbane's history,' he said. The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water confirmed it is reviewing the YMAC's application. Save Victoria Park spokeswoman Sue Bremner questioned why Indigenous groups were opposing the Olympic stadium when Victoria Park was previously used as a golf course, rifle range and encampment for WWII American soldiers. 'The park has grown up with Brisbane, and it's gone through various stages,' Ms Bremner told 4BC Radio. 'One thing about a golf course is that it doesn't change the topography as much. The ridges where the First Nations people camped for thousands of years are still there. 'That is not going to be the case if this stadium build goes ahead.' A spokeswoman for the state government, led by Premier David Crisafulli, said it was committed to 'ensuring the Games deliver a generational infrastructure legacy'. 'The new laws provide a bespoke process that recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage matters - incorporating engagement, consultation with relevant parties and preparation of a cultural heritage management plan,' she said. The Federal Government in July pledged $3.4billion in funding for the Queensland Government for the Games Venue Infrastructure program. Combined funding resulted in a total of $7.1billion to be used on delivering 17 new or upgraded sporting venues across Queensland. The stadium planned for Victoria Park is set to host the Games' opening and closing ceremonies. Several athletic events would also be held at the venue. Several Queensland teams - including Brisbane Lions, Brisbane Heat and Queensland Bulls - have expressed interest in the stadium as their homeground after the Games.
BBC News
6 hours ago
- BBC News
'It would be cool to be the fastest of all time'
British sprinter Matthew Richardson wants to become the "fastest track cyclist of all time" as he aims to break the 200m flying start time trial world record in Turkey next who switched his allegiance to Great Britain from Australia after the Paris Olympics last summer, is attempting to break the record that stands at 9.088 is one of three British cyclists bidding to break records on the same track on 14 August, with Charlie Tanfield attempting the elite hour mark and para-cyclist Will Bjergfelt taking on the C5 category hour milestone."It has a nice ring to it, being the fastest track discipline," Richardson said. "There's no extra caveats to it afterwards - it's in a flat 200 [metres], you reached the highest peak speed possible on the track. It'd be cool, if I do it, to call myself the fastest of all time," Richardson, who was born in Maidstone, Kent and moved to Western Australia aged nine, won two silver medals and a bronze for Australia last summer before switching his won a trio of sprint titles at the British Track Championships at the start of the year, and followed it with two golds on his Great Britain debut at the Nations Cup in March, on the Konya track in Turkey where the new attempts will all take briefly set a new flying 200m record at the Olympics of 9.091 seconds, before Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen broke it minutes 26-year-old said he was "confident" going into next week and that the record would fall below nine seconds soon - a feat that requires speeds of more than 80km/hr."I'm pretty confident that I'm in a really good place to get the job done," he said."It's a bit of a race between Harrie and I to be the first person to do it [break nine seconds]. It's been on my radar for the last couple of years as the world's got a bit closer and closer to going below nine." Tanfield is aiming to become the fourth British man to break the hour record, registering the biggest distance cycled around a track in 60 minutes - since the UCI (International Cycling Union) changed the rules in 2014 - following Alex Dowsett, Bradley Wiggins and Dan current record stands at 56.792km set by Italy's Filippo Ganna in 2022."I identified this year after the Games as a time when I'd have the freedom to give it a go," Tanfield said."I've been preparing for this since I started training again after the Games, so there's been months of training and learning to get to this point. On the day my goal is to execute the perfect ride for my ability, if can do that and put it all together I'll be happy." 'I want to be the first para-cyclist to crack 50km' Bjergfelt said the C5 hour record of 47.569km, set in 2014 by Italy's Andrea Tarlao, had been something he had wanted to attempt for a long time. The 46-year-old believes the advancements in technology over the past 11 years make not only breaking it achievable but also adding considerably to the distance."Aerodynamics have evolved massively, I feel I'll be in a very, very good place to forward the record on and push it on and make it something big again," Bjergfelt said."I definitely want to see if I can crack 50km, if so I'll be the first C5 para-cyclist to break that barrier. That would be something that's pretty special. "I want to put out there that if you do have an impairment or a slight disability there's so many amazing things that you can do that it shouldn't hold anyone back." Bjergfelt made history in 2021 as the first para-cyclist to race in the men's Tour of Britain and he is back juggling full-time work as an engineer alongside racing after taking two years off to focus on hour record is known for being one of the most gruelling tests in cycling and Bjergfelt said the challenge is managing your effort to perfection."With the hour record you have to be really conservative in the first 40-45 minutes. You still want to be on a pace to beat the record but you have to be really within yourself, because it's an effort that comes back to bite you," he said. "In that last 10, 15 minutes that's where hopefully I'll be on pace to have broken the record and at the same time I'll still have enough in the tank to really extend myself in the last five minutes."
