THEY MIGHT HAVE been away from their families, but the Lions took a few minutes to mark Father’s Day on Sunday in Jersey.
At one of their team meetings, the coaching staff played videos sent in by the players’ families and it proved to be emotional stuff.
“When the videos came through of my family and my girl was talking, I didn’t want to show emotion but there were a lot of goosebumps,” says Bundee Aki.
“It just goes to show that everything everybody is doing here is obviously for their families. It’s tough not being around your family at these kinds of times but at the end of the day you’re doing it for them and it just gives us a bit of a push.”
Aki knows all about being away from family. While his wife and kids have made Ireland their home alongside him, the rest of the family is on the other side of the world.
They will all be watching closely as Connacht man Aki takes on the best of South Africa with the Lions in the coming months.
“Dad is working in Australia and mum is at home [in New Zealand],” explains Aki.
“I have uncles and aunties in Samoa as well so there will be a lot of people supporting me.”
Aki says that providing for his family has driven him throughout his time in rugby, from breaking through with the Chiefs, moving to Connacht, representing Ireland, and now being part of this Lions tour.
He thinks back to the year he spent working in a bank in Auckland in his late teens, ensuring he could provide for his newborn daughter while playing club rugby in his spare time. Between working and training, he was gone from 6am until 9pm many days.
“I do everything I can to provide for my family and put them first,” says Aki. “When the Lions squad was announced, I certainly shed a few tears with my wife and my parents on the phone.
“Just this moment, talking about it now, I’m getting a few goosebumps because the sacrifices we made as a family, the sacrifices we did to let us take this journey, have been unbelievable and they are coming to fruition.
“I have a lot of people to thank for that, especially all my coaches in the past, my family, and especially my wife who sacrificed a lot for me to be able to do what I want to do.”
Aki won’t be lacking in motivation to impress on this tour and reports from camp suggest he is already making a big impact.
The Connacht man apparently delivered a huge tackle in the Lions’ first contact training session last week to set the tone for their preparation and earn the respect of his new team-mates.
This hasn’t been the smoothest season for the 31-year-old between injury, non-selection with Ireland, and then suspension after a red card against England when he did make it into Andy Farrell’s team for the last game of the Six Nations.
“Obviously, there is safety within the game and I’ve just got to make sure that I put my physicality and aggression in a different kind of way, making sure it’s more towards the safety side of things more than anything else,” says Aki of the lesson he learned from that tackle on Billy Vunipola.
Lions boss Warren Gatland is clearly a fan of the physical edge Aki can deliver and the Ireland international is now hopeful of making an impact in Saturday’s opening game against Japan in Edinburgh.
A positive first impression in the Lions jersey would be huge for Aki, although he knows all about Japan’s quality.
“We know what they did to us at the World Cup with Ireland and to Scotland as well,” says Aki. “They’ve come a long way, they’re a team that poses so much threat around the park, they play with a lot of confidence, they play off a lot of structure.
“The detail they put into their skills is phenomenal, it’s great to watch. They’re a great team. They’re dark horses, you know? They could tip over any team on a good day, that’s how we know what we’re coming up against. One of the great teams to play against.”
