Mike Tindall has admitted his first rugby bonding experience with his son Lucas came just 20 minutes after he was born, on March 21 2021.
The former professional player, who was in the World Cup winning squad in Australia in 2003, watched a rugby game from 1996 with his newborn son minutes after he was born on the bathroom floor of their Gloucestershire home.
Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: “Lucas, the first thing he ever watched as soon as he was born was Bath versus Wigan back in 1996 as it happened to be on TV – he was 20 minutes old when he watched that. Hopefully, he will watch a bit of rugby.”
Mike and his wife Zara have daughters Mia, 10, and five-year-old Lena as well as Lucas, and the rugby player has said he would “love it” if they got into sport too.
He said that while his eldest Mia is “not in love with it” Lena “still goes and plays”, perhaps unsurprisingly as sport runs in the family’s blood.
Alongside Mike’s Rugby World Cup winning glory, Zara won a silver medal in eventing at the 2012 London Olympics and her impressive equestrianism won her BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2006.
Mike may be keen for his family to follow in their footsteps, but revealed he has had to come to terms with the fact that Mia has started supporting Australia.
He told Telegraph Sport: “Mia has a kinship with Australia and so she cheers for Australia as well, which is slightly awkward when Australia are playing England, but they do watch.”
Australia is an important place for the Tindall family, as it was where Zara and Mike met back in 2003 when he was playing in the World Cup and she was on a gap year.
The family currently live on the Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire, the home of Zara’s mother Princess Anne, although there has been speculation they could move Down Under permanently.
When asked about living in Australia Mike previously told Hello! magazine: “It’s not on the cards, people try to say we almost did but we never almost did. It’s never been an actual thing where we’ve looked for a house or anything.
