Scotland’s band of brothers

Scotland have a history of brothers representing the national team, with close to 50 sets of siblings turning out for their country, with around half doing so in the same Test match.

This Saturday’s match against USA will see Fagerson brothers Matt and Zander, and Horne brothers George and Pete become the 48th and 49th brothers to play for Scotland, and the 22nd and 23rd pair of brothers to play together in the same Test match.

Matt Fagerson (back-row) and George Horne will make their first international appearances alongside elder brothers Zander and Pete and will be the most recent recent pair of brothers to start at Test for Scotland since the Bullochs and Leslies in 2001.

It will be only the eighth time in close to 700 Scotland Tests when two sets of brothers have been on the field at the same time, with Fagergsons and Hornes joining the Evans and Lamont brothers (2010), Bulloch and Leslie brothers (2001), Milne and Hastings brothers (1990), and the Neilson and Orr brothers, who did so four times (1891-1892).

Matt Fagerson will be only the second Scotland forward to be capped as a teenager in 67 years, lock Jonny Gray the other in 2013 (and coincidentally one half of another brother pairing). He’s just the third teenager to play for Scotland in the pro era after Gray and Stuart Hogg, and is Scotland’s youngest ever number 8 (at At 19y 335d)

Close to 50 sets of brothers have played for Scotland but not in the same match. The brothers who have played together are as follows:

Scotland’s band of brothers

1. Three Finlay brothers (Arthur, James and Ninian) played together in 1875 v England.

2. Neilson brothers (William, George, Walter and Robert) – never all together in the same match. Three together in 1894 v England (William, George and Walter), while two played together (William and George) played together in six matches between 1891 and 1896.

3. Tom and William Marshall in 1872 v England

4. Robert and Duncan Irvine – three internationals together 1878-1879.

5. Robert and Thomas Ainslie – three internationals together 1881 and 1882.

6. Robert and Gardyne Maitland – 1885 v Wales

7. Archibald and James Walker – two together (1882 v England and 1883 v Wales)

8. Andrew and Patrick Don Wauchope – three together (1885-1886)

9. Charles and John Orr (10 between 1889 and 1892)

10. David and John Bedell Sivright – 1902 v Wales

11. Lewis and Kenneth MacLeod – 1905 v New Zealand

12. Wilson and Ian Shaw – 1937 v Ireland

13. Angus and Donald Cameron – 1953 v Ireland and England

14. Peter and Gordon Brown – 13 together between 1970 and 1973.

15. Three Milne brothers (Iain, Kenny and David) played for Scotland, though never in the same match. Iain and Kenneth played two internationals together (1989 v Wales, 1990 v NZ 2nd Test). David’s one cap was as a replacement in the 1991Rugby World Cup match against Japan, when neither Iain nor Kenny was in the team.

16. Gavin and Scott Hastings – 51 together from 1986 to 1995.

17. John and Martin Leslie – 16 from 1998 to 2002

18. Gordon and Alan Bulloch – 4 internationals in 2000 and 2001.

19. Sean and Rory Lamont – 29 times between 2005 and 2012.

20. Thom and Max Evans – five times in 2009 and 2010.

21. Jonny and Richie Gray – 23 times from 2014 to date, at time of writing

22. Matt and Zander Fagerson – set to face USA in 2018, at time of writing

23. George and Pete Horne – set to face USA in 2018, at time of writing