Hitchin Rugby Club brothers make international debuts in Denmark win

The pair came up through the ranks at Hitchin and, after a couple of years of contact with the Danish authorities, were asked to attend a training session in September.

Both were called up to play in the Rugby European Conference Northern League, with Dan at scrum-half and Ben at fly-half as Denmark avenged two previous losses to Andorra.

"Playing for Denmark was a proud moment for my brother, me and our family," said Dan.

"Unfortunately our grandma, or Mormor as the Danes say, isn't around to see us play any more but we definitely felt like we had to give it our best shot as the last members of the family with the grandparent eligibility we have."

Ben added: "Dan and I felt like professional players for the day as it was a very similar structure to something you'd see elite teams do on game day - an early meeting, lunch together, jersey presentations and the help of music blasting out before holding a mascot's hand and singing the national anthem.

"It was hard to ignore what we were playing for."

Denmark are due to take on Finland in Helsinki on Saturday (October 15), with the third and final group game against Norway not until next May.

Dan said: "Signing a couple of autographs after the game certainly added to the buzz of an international rugby match! One thing that was noticeable about Danish Rugby is the teamwork, collaboration and how welcome Ben and I felt.

"Sometimes you can feel it takes six weeks or more of training at a club to feel like you've made a good friend or two but Hitchin Rugby is similar to Denmark in their welcome to new players eager to play the best rugby they can. We're still called the wrong names every now and then but we are very alike!”

The Denmark debuts of the Hitchin duo were watched live in the clubhouse by a large group of players, supporters, sponsors and coaches, with most of the latter group claiming to have launched the lads on their pathway to international careers.