There will be nine sets of brothers playing at Rugby World Cup 2003, just as there will be several sons of former internationals taking to the stage at the world’s premier sporting event of the year.
But what about players whose family members have enjoyed success in other sports, be they with a different shaped ball or something different entirely?
We take a look at some of these sporting family connections:
OLIVIER BROUZET (FRANCE)
It is perhaps surprising that Olivier Brouzet plays his rugby in the French second row and not as a hooker, given his family’s pedigree in the throwing discipline of shot putt.
His father Yves, who passed away in May, is the holder of the oldest French national record with a throw of 20.20 metres at Colombes – the national rugby stadium before Parc des Princes – on 22 July 1973.
Yves represented France on 44 occasions between 1969 and 1982, including in both the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games, while Olivier followed in his footsteps and is himself a former French junior shot putt champion.
Olivier’s two sisters – Anne and Marie – are also former shot putters and are ranked fourth and fifth on the French Under 20 all time lists; Anne with a throw of 15.53 metres in August 1989 and Marie with 15.44 metres in July 1993.
AURELIEN ROUGERIE (FRANCE)
However Brouzet is not the only French player at the Tournament to come from a sporting background as team mate Aurelien Rougerie’s mother Christine (nee Dulac) was a basketball player for France and also won the French Basketball Premier Division with Clermont-Ferrand.
JUAN MARTÍN HERNÁNDEZ (ARGENTINA)
Juan Martín Hernández is another to come from a sporting family, his uncle Patricio José Hernández having played for famous football (soccer) club River Plate and also made 10 appearances for Argentina.
His older sister María de la Paz Hernández, nicknamed Maripi, was a member of the Argentine women’s field hockey team who won a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000.
In December 2002, Maripi was part of the Argentina team that were crowned world champions for the first time after defeating the Netherlands 4-3 on sudden death penalty strokes in Perth, Australia.
She has won more than 100 caps for Argentina.
BEN COHEN (ENGLAND)
England wing Ben Cohen will be hoping to become the second member of his family to be crowned a world champion, his uncle George having won the FIFA (soccer) World Cup with England in 1966.
George, who won 37 caps for England between 1964 and 1968, played in defence as England won the first ever World Cup final to go to extra time with a 4-2 defeat of long time rivals West Germany.
KENNY LOGAN (SCOTLAND)
Gabby Logan is not only the wife of Scotland wing Kenny, but also the daughter of former Wales international footballer (soccer player) and manager Terry Yorath. He won 59 caps as a player and then managed Wales between 1988 and 1993.
However Gabby, now a television presenter in England, is herself a former rhythmic gymnast, having competed at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland in 1990 and won an overall silver medal in the British Championships.
MAT ROGERS (AUSTRALIA)
Mat Rogers may have won the Rugby League World Cup with Australia, but his father Steve is regarded as one of the greatest centres in the sport’s modern era and still holds the Cronulla Sharks record with 1,253 points between 1973 and 1985.
Steve, who was awarded the prestigious Rothmans Medal in 1975 and is one of three Sharks players immortalised as the greatest ever to play for the club.
He also played 21 Tests for the Kangaroos, the Australian national team, captaining them in 1981.