More than 50 sets of brothers have represented Scotland at rugby union but it is pretty safe to say there hasn’t been a cap pair honoured quite like Simon and Julian Scott of Stewart’s Melville.
The siblings owe their sporting status to a much acclaimed review of previous matches initially deemed unworthy of Test status and in their case the “upgrade” concerned a match played 37 years ago!
What’s more, only around half of the capped siblings have appeared in the same fixture – in the Scott’s case it was against mighty France in a tour encounter at Tarbes.
Given that the initial review decided to recognise fixtures against – with due respect – inferior rugby nations than France it was a case of common sense prevailing at the second consideration, and how grateful the brothers are.
Simon, a centre three quarter now aged 66 said: “Around the time of that match I felt I was close to a full cap having been on the Scotland bench four times but when it never happened I parked the disappointment in a dark recess of my mind.
“When the call came from SRU President Colin Rigby I was very emotional; it meant so much.”
While Simon took the call as he awaited hip surgery Julian, a solicitor, was attending a company board meeting.
“I returned to that meeting with moist eyes” admitted Julian, 61, a scrum half whose rugby CV included captaining a Scottish Schools team that contained Gavin Hastings and David Sole.
“In some ways it is good to have happened now as there are so many family members to celebrate with who were not even thought about in ’86 never mind born!” added Julian.
Memories of the match which ended in a 16-16 draw?
For Julian it is partly the quirky nature of proceedings.
“An 8.30 pm kick off on a Wednesday evening took a bit of getting used to because awakening at 6am with no internet, no breakfast telly etc meant a lot of adrenalin to control for hours on end.
“During the game the French stand off, Jean-Patrick Lescarboura, he of the film star looks, looked up on his own 10 metre line, actually kissed the ball, and then let fly with an enormous drop goal attempt which hit a post! I don’t remember our No 10 Dougie Wyllie doing that for Stew Mel!
“Another memory was the great French winger Patrick Esteve thinking he had sidestepped our prop Norrie Rowan and was clear to the try-line. He hadn’t reckoned on Norrie being so quick retreating 10 yards. How we loved a player known as the ‘Narbonne Express’ being de-railed by someone we immediately dubbed the ‘Boroughmuir freight train’!”
Looking back Simon recalls making a pledge with illustrious school matches Jim and Fin Calder, twins who represented not only Scotland, but the British and Irish Lions, albeit on separate tours.
“We’d just finished with the Scottish Schools team and immediately said: “Let’s give it a real go and see how far we can all get in senior rugby.
“We all know about the Calders and their success; it was my biggest regret that I came up short …. until now.”
A formal capping ceremony is expected to take place around the time of the 2024 Six Nations tournament, but Stewart’s Melville held a tribute lunch in the Inverleith clubhouse. How fitting that the function was heavily over-subscribed before photos of the brothers were added to a gallery of internationalists.
PHOTOS courtesy of Jax MacKenzie Photography
Evergreen sports journalist. Previously published in many publications around the world. Send me your local sports stories. billlothian1008@gmail.com
