With 336 players in France for the World Rugby U20 Championship 2018, there are a whole host of new names hoping to star on the global stage. However, if you take a closer look at those squad lists, there are also a few names you will have seen before.

The U20 Championship has seen more than 570 players go on to play test rugby since it was introduced in 2008, so it comes as no surprise that it has become a family affair over the years. 

The 2018 will no be different with players having connections to Rugby World Cup winners, a World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee, an Olympic skier and even two U20 Championship winners in the case of Scotland’s Devante Onojaife and England’s Tom Willis, whose brothers Jordan and Jack were part of England’s title-winning teams of 2014 and 2016 respectively.

New Zealand’s Billy Proctor and Ireland’s Sean O’Brien, though, will be hoping to go one better than their older brothers Matt and Conor managed in being runners-up in the 2012 and 2016 editions in South Africa and England respectively.

Harry Byrne’s brother Ross, meanwhile, is in line to join the ranks of Ireland’s U20 Championship graduates in June after being named in their squad to tour Australia off the back of wining the Champions Cup and PRO14 double with Leinster.

Six other players will be following in their brothers’ footsteps, including Argentina captain Joaquin de la Vega and his Italian counterpart Michele Lamaro. De la Vega’s brother Tomás is one of Los Pumas’ 58 U20 Championship graduates, having won 12 caps between 2011-14, while Pietro Lamaro played for the Azzurrini on home soil in the 2015 Championship.

Australian quartet

Another is Isaac Lucas, who is the fourth member of his family to wear the Australia jersey after his brothers Matt, Ben and Tom. Matt played in the U20 Championship in both 2011 and 2012 and kicked a last-gasp conversion to secure Australia the Tokyo Sevens title in 2014.

Ben, the eldest, played in the precursor to the U20 Championship, helping Australia to win the U19 Championship in Dubai in 2006, and has also played sevens for Australia and been an unused replacement for the Wallabies for their test with Wales in December 2011. Tom (pictured right), meanwhile, has featured for Australia in four rounds of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in 2018, tasting success on home soil in Sydney in January.

Lucas is not the only member of the Junior Wallabies’ squad with a family connection as hooker Matt Faessler’s grandfather Vince Bermingham made his debut at tight-head prop in the first match of the 1934 Bledisloe Cup series, a match Australia won 25-11 in Sydney. With the second test drawn, Australia were crowned Bledisloe Cup winners for the first time.

Another player with a Bledisloe Cup winning connection is New Zealand’s Will Tremain, whose grandfather is All Blacks legend Kel Tremain, the back-row who played 38 tests from 1959-68. The award presented to the All Blacks’ Player of the Year bears his name, such was his influence on the game in New Zealand.

Tremain isn’t alone in having an All Black as a family member as Caleb Clarke is the son of Eroni Clarke who scored six tries in 10 tests from 1992-98, including on against the British and Irish Lions in 1993. Eroni Clarke played Super Rugby for the Blues alongside the father of Caleb’s team-mate Hoskins Sotutu.

This will be Caleb Clarke’s second U20 Championship, having been part of New Zealand’s victorious side in Georgia 12 months’ ago and England, the side they beat 64-17 in the title decider, have a number of family connections themselves, including fly-half James Grayson who is the son of Rugby World Cup 2003 winner Paul.

Rugby World Cup stage

Captain Ben Curry (main picture) is one of three twins in the England U20 squad in France and, like winger Jordan Olowofela, has a connection to another England side this month. Curry’s brother Tom played in England’s loss to the Barbarians last weekend and will be in South Africa for the three-test series. Their uncle is John Olver, who played three tests for England, including one at RWC 1991.

Olowofela’s brother Ryan will play for England Sevens this weekend at the HSBC London Sevens, the penultimate round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2018 at Twickenham. Joel Kopku is the other England player who is a twin, while prop Alex Seville’s great-grandfather George Halford played for England in the 1920 Five Nations.

France, the team that beat England to the U20 Six Nations title this year on points differential, have two players with fathers who played test rugby for different countries. 

Fly-half Romain Ntamack’s father is Emile Ntamack (pictured left), the centre who scored 26 tries in his 46 tests for France in a career that saw him play in two Rugby World Cups, including the defeat of New Zealand in the 1999 semi-finals. Daniel Brennan’s father Trevor also played at RWC 1999, albeit for Ireland. The former flanker played 13 times for Ireland before moving to France to play for Toulouse. 

Another RWC 1999 connection comes from Scotland’s Guy Graham, whose father George won 25 caps between 1997-2002 and was Scotland forwards coach at RWC 2007 in France. Guy follows in the footsteps of brother Gary who played in the U20 Championship in 2012 but was involved in England’s training camp ahead of the Six Nations. 

Wales full-back Cai Evans also boasts a father who graced rugby’s showpiece event in Ieuan Evans, a veteran of the 1987, 1991 and 1995 tournaments. He played in two series wins for the Lions and won 72 caps for Wales, 22 of them as captain, and was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2014. 

Founding fathers

Salmaan Moerat’s family also have a rich history in South African rugby, the U20 captain’s relatives having founded the Vineyards club back in 1944. A number of them, including his father Nazeem, also played provincial rugby for Western Province and national level during the apartheid era in the 1980s.

South Africa were given a scare by Georgia in round one and the Junior Lelos boast three players with names indelibly linked to past glories and the formative years of Georgia’s introduction to international rugby. 

Otar Dragnidze’s uncle Nugzar played in Georgia’s first ever test – a 16-3 win against Zimbabwe in 1989 – while his father went on to win 10 caps for the Lelos. Kote Marjanishvili’s father Merab played in their second test, while Mikheil Alani’s father Kakha was a member of the Georgian team that beat Russia too qualify for their first ever Rugby World Cup in 2003.  

This trio of Georgian players aren’t the only ones with a family connection as coach Ilia Maisuradze’s brother Simon played 33 tests for the Lelos and came off the bench against New Zealand at Rugby World Cup 2015. Argentina assistant coach Enrique Pichot, himself an Argentina Sevens player, is the elder brother of former Los Pumas captain Agustín Pichot.

It is not only in rugby that players have connections with Atora Hondo’s sister Ammi having skied for Japan at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Games earlier this year. She contested the slalom, giant slalom and super combined, with eighth in the slalom her best result in Korea.

Wales’ James Botham, meanwhile, is the grandson of cricketer Ian Botham, who scored 5,200 test runs and took 383 wickets in 102 matches for England, while his father Liam played rugby for Cardiff.