When Daniel du Preez ran on to the Stade de France pitch late in the second half of the Springboks’ narrow 18-17 win over France on Saturday‚ he created a small slice of history.
By following twin brother Jean-Luc and father Robert into the green and gold‚ the Du Preez family has a unique record.
It's the first time in the history of South African rugby that two sons of a Springbok have played Test rugby.
There have been 12 other father and son Springbok combinations from Alf (1921-24) and Harry Walker (1953-56) to Flippie (1981-89) and Flip (2010) van der Merwe.
Felix (1949) and Morné (1971-1980) du Plessis remain the only father and son duo to have captained the Springboks.
Akona (2006-07) and Odwa (2008-10) Ndungane were the first twins to both earn Springbok caps and until this weekend were the only twins to play for SA.
The Du Preez twins also became the 33rd set of two brothers to have played for the Boks.
The list includes the likes of Naas and Darius Botha‚ Helgard and Pieter Muller and Jannie and Bismarck du Plessis.
Daniel and Jean-Luc’s older brother Robert‚ who is a flyhalf‚ is also knocking on the door of Test selection.
He was unlucky to miss the current tour after steering Western Province to the Currie Cup title last month.
There have only been three sets of three brothers that have played for the Boks‚ the last being Willie‚ Michael and Carel du Plessis between 1980-89. Carel was also Springbok coach for less than a season in 1997.
Daniel became the eighth Du Preez to represent South Africa and the seventh in Tests (prop Wian du Preez toured with the Boks in 2007 but never played a Test).
The Du Preez name is closing in on the 11 Du Plessis’ and 10 Morkels that have played Test rugby for the Springboks.
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