When John Armitage glanced up from the back of the scrum, Delon and Steffon were on the touchline, watching their stepdad in action. The next time Hatfield Rugby Club’s No8 looked up, the boys were on the next field booting a ball between them.

Armitage never could have imagined then that he would be the spectator at Twickenham with Delon and Steffon the players. When the boys run out to face Italy in the Six Nations, they will become the ninth pair of brothers to play for England.

Stepdad Armitage said: "I met and married their mum, Verna, in Trinidad in 1990, when the eldest, Bevon, was seven, Delon was six and Steffon was four. We moved to England and it was football for them at first, so I tried to get them interested in my team Liverpool. I took Delon (pronounced Dylan) to see QPR play Liverpool and he came away a Rangers fan — he still is.

"Steffon is Arsenal through and through. But all three boys soon became interested in rugby union. I was still playing for Hatfield and there was no mistaking their massive enthusiasm to improve.

"Once they took up the oval ball, they wanted to be the very best they could be. Bevon was probably the best of the three then, a fast and powerful centre. But things did not go well for him. He broke a metatarsal but still tried to play in a regional trial game when we were living in France. Then he moved back to Trinidad for a few years when he was 17 and took time out of rugby, priceless time in terms of development. Ripped knee ligaments robbed him of nearly a year when he did start playing again. So Bevon is making up for lost time, having just moved from Esher to Doncaster RFC in National Division One, the level immediately below the Guinness Premiership."

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