Like father, like son: Famous bloodlines in rugby

Scotland has a smallish gene pool from which to select any national side, especially in a minority sport like rugby where, for all its current popularity with fans, actual players are almost an endangered species. So it shouldn’t be surprising that several of the current Scotland players boast an illustrious bloodline. The captain Greig Laidlaw is the nephew of Roy Laidlaw who won 51 international caps including three for the Lions.
Adam Hastings is the son of famous Scotland player, Gavin.Adam Hastings is the son of famous Scotland player, Gavin.
Adam Hastings is the son of famous Scotland player, Gavin.

You only need to look at Adam Hastings to know he is the son of Gavin, nephew of Scott, both of whom coincidentally boast 67 international caps including appearances for the Lions. And perhaps more appropriately, Gary Graham is the son of former Scotland prop George, who once tamed the mighty Os du Randt when Scotland hosted the Springboks at Murrayfield.

Graham (Snr) is perhaps the most Scottish Scot you will ever meet. Raised in Stirling’s Raploch development, he once drove his heavily pregnant wife all the way from Carlisle to Stirling just so the baby could be born in Scotland. You can only imagine the conversation when Gary initially opted for England.

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All this we expect because Scotland is small and it’s a surprise to find that the England squad, with the largest number of players on the planet at their disposal, also have three sons of former international rugby players if we include the 13-man code.

Scrum-half Ben Youngs’ father Nick earned six England caps in the late 1980s as a burly nine. Incidentally, Youngs’ brother Tom is injured but the hooker boasts 31 caps including several appearances for the Lions.

England’s two fly-half options are great mates. Owen Farrell and George Ford grew up as near neighbours, both fathers representing GB and England at rugby league while Andy Farrell also added eight rugby union caps to his palmares even if he was past his best before he switched code.

France boast the second most numbers behind England, their squad also boasting two sons of famous fathers. The most obvious is Romain Ntamack whose father Emile broke Scottish hearts at the 1995 World Cup with a try in the seventh minute of injury time at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld; suitable payback for the Scots having the temerity to win in Paris earlier that year.

The pair appeared together on the cover of L’Equipe this week and French pundits suggest that Junior may out-shine his father’s considerable achievements. Romain is only 19, still technically eligible for the French Under-20 squad, which he helped to the Six Nations title last season.

The other player with heritage is centre Damian Penaud, whose father Alain was in and out of the French team from 1992-2000, a stand-off whose career straddled the amateur and professional eras.

These players undoubtedly benefited from having a famous father, instant access to a rugby ball from a young age and, of course, someone to play with. Six-times capped centre Alexandre Dumoulin was not so fortunate on that score although he did not make the Six Nations cut this time round.

Dumoulin grew up having no contact with his father, the infamous Marc Cécillon, a French No.8 who served time in jail for the drunken murder of his wife with a shotgun at a barbecue in front of a large number of people. Only in adult life did the son acknowledge his true father, however difficult that must have been.

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It was Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers that popularised the 10,000-hour theory which, simply stated, argues that pretty much anyone can become an expert in any discipline if they put in 10,000 hours of practice.

The theory has been partially debunked, psychologists insisting that just one third of the difference in performance is down to practice, but sons of famous fathers not only have all those hours of throwing a ball in the garden to help hone their skills but they also surely share every’s son’s desire to match or better the old man’s achievements.

Italy have several sons of famous fathers including Marco Barbini, whose father was an Italy cap in the 1970s, and Wales have more. No.8 Ross Moriarty’s father Richard won 22 Welsh caps, just beating his brother Paul (Ross’ uncle) who ended with 21. Junior has already beaten them both with 26. Meanwhile, Dai Young’s boy Thomas (two caps), finally got called up to the Six Nations squad and, as dad put it without a hint of embarrassment, “he thoroughly deserved it”.

All of which leaves us with Ireland who, despite a relatively small population pool, have no one in the current squad whose father was capped. It’s a strange one.

It would be nice to suggest that the IRFU casts its net a little wider these days and is benefitting from it. It may even be true to some extent with foreign “project players” and clubs adding more variation to the squad.

However, the majority of Irish players – 16 of Joe Schmidt’s current squad – emerged from Dublin, where the fiercely competitive fee-paying schools hoover up most of the available talent.

If there are any lessons to be learned from Ireland’s lack of famous fathers, it isn’t immediately obvious.