2. Pat Howard – Australia
The centre/fly-half Pat made his Wallabies debut on 17 July 1993 against New Zealand before going onto win 20 caps.
This debut test came 23 years after his father, Jake Howard, who also played for the Wallabies, and 67 years after his Grandfather Cryil Towers, who made his debut for Australia in 1926.
His father, who married Cryils’ daughter Margariete, made his international rugby debut on 6 June 1970 against Scotland and went on to make six further international representative appearances between 1970 and 1973.
In 1998 he signed for Leicester Tigers, displacing Will Greenwood, who was forced to return to Harlequins for first team rugby. Howard became a pivotal part of the Tigers’ championship winning side. Howard started the victorious 2001 Heineken Cup Final for Leicester.
Meanwhile, Towers had played 57 matches for Australia between 1926 and 1937, 19 of them Tests, 2 of those as captain. In retirement he was one of the first rugby commentators, becoming known as the “voice of rugby” from his broadcasts for the Australian Broadcasting Commission.