Kiwis captain Dallin-Watene-Zelezniak has revealed his wife could feel how close she was to giving birth to their daughter but didn't tell him so he could focus on the Kangaroos Test.
Purdy Watene-Zelezniak held off telling her husband because she knew how important the game across the ditch in Auckland was, especially with him being named captain for the first time.
So instead, she waited until after the historic 26-24 win and the Kiwis skipper was instant in his reaction.
"It happened before the game, my wife, she was getting pains and those sorts of things and she didn't want to tell me because she knew how big this game was for us," Watene-Zelezniak said.
"After the game she told me and I caught the next flight back in the morning.
"She didn't have the baby until Wednesday, but I was privileged to be able to get that time off for my daughter's birth and support my wife.
"It's awesome to have a little girl, she's a blessing to us and it's different to having a son, but we might have to lock her up for a long time and make sure there are no boys!
"But I'm loving it, I'm loving being a father."
Their daughter, Indigo, weighed 3.4kg at birth.
Although he was there for her birth and spent time with his family afterwards, Watene-Zelezniak admits leaving them to rejoin the Kiwis for their three-Test series against England starting this weekend was tough.
"It was a bit tough to leave, but my wife is amazing," he said.
"She's given me this opportunity to come over here to represent our country and she looks after our children at home.
"She has a lot of support from her family and my family. It was tough this time leaving, but it's an awesome opportunity for me to do something and hopefully my son and girl one day might want to follow in my footsteps."
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