Ken Owens dashed back to Wales for the birth of his second child before returning to France to captain his country in what was likely his final Six Nations appearance.
The Wales, Scarlets and Lions hooker, 36, and his wife Carys are already parents to son Efan, and welcomed their second child on this week.
The man known as The Sheriff revealed he had barely trained this week, after travelling back to Wales from the south of France on Tuesday night. Warren Gatland's squad had travelled straight from Rome to Nice last weekend to spend a week preparing for their tournament finale against France, mirroring a World Cup environment away from home.
Owens, who was named captain for this Six Nations, was at home for the birth but then travelled to Paris on Friday morning to rejoin the Wales squad, making it in time for Wales' captain's run and media duties before facing Les Bleus on Saturday.
Asked about his new arrival and a social media post from his wife in Wales' post-match press conference, Owens said: "I haven’t seen the picture. I’m not on social media. I'm not going to comment why I'm not on social media. It’s been an interesting week.
"Obviously had to leave the boys on Tuesday night. Then I was flying back, so it's been challenging. Obviously I haven’t trained much this week. That’s probably why I was hooked on 45 minutes. You can be overdone sometimes, but I was definitely underdone.
"I was proud of Carys and becoming a father again. Everything went okay. Back to the family tomorrow [Sunday]. Hopefully [Scarlets boss] Dwayne Peel will give me a nice little week off to enjoy with the family."
Asked if it had been one hell of a campaign, he replied: "It'll make for interesting reading in my book!"
Gatland said: "Ken became a father again on Thursday which is brilliant. He flew back on Tuesday night for his wife and the birth which is brilliant."
Carys is managing director of media production firm Whisper Cymru, whose work includes producing the documentary for the 2021 Lions tour of South Africa.
Following the win over Italy, Owens' first victory as captain, Gatland said: "He’s been dealing with a huge amount of stuff. His wife was heavily pregnant at the same time. I was delighted for him. I don’t think you could get a nicer person than Ken Owens or someone who cares about the game and its people. He comes from a great family. I was really pleased for him to get that monkey off his back."
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