At the double: McMullin twins join select group

Last Sunday’s return to BC Place in Vancouver after a five-year wait was largely a day to forget for Canada’s men’s team as they fell to a record 55-28 defeat to Japan.

Not too many positives could be drawn from the way they were cut apart by Japan’s high-tempo rugby. But the way they fought back valiantly to prevent an even heavier drubbing was something to take from the game.

At the heart of that spirited revival was the McMullin twins, Talon and Takoda, who scored their first international tries in the defeat. Talon, who started at inside centre, hit a great line and showed good pace to power over the line in the 50th minute, whilst Takoda came on for the final quarter and produced a great finish for Canada’s fourth try in the dying stages of the match. In crossing the whitewash in the same fixture, the McMullins joined a very select band of players.

Plenty of twins have played Test rugby but not scored in the same match, notably Gary and Alan Whetton (New Zealand), Ben and Tom Curry (England), Anthony and Saia Fainga'a and Richie and Rory Arnold (both Australia),  Dan and Jean-Luc du Preez and Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis (both South Africa), Carlos and Sergio Souto (Spain), Domingo and Clemente Saavedra (Chile) and Chuma and Chumisa Qawe (South Africa).

But, as detailed below, our research reveals that the McMullins have joined at least six sets of twins, listed alphabetically, in achieving the feat.

Poppy & Bryony Cleall (England Women)

Poppy Cleall is one of the most prolific try-scoring loose forwards around, with 22 tries in 65 Tests, while Bryony’s normal business is doing the hard, unseen work in the scrum and maul. However, on one occasion, the two of them made their way onto the scoresheet in the same match, a 52-10 win over Scotland in April 2021.

Felipe & Manuel Contepomi (Argentina Men)

Both midfield merchants, the Contepomis played in three Rugby World Cups together. “For me, that was the pinnacle,” current Los Pumas head coach Felipe said. The icing on the cake was both scoring tries in the same match against Namibia in the 2007 tournament, although the brotherly double act had done the same against Wales in Tucuman three years earlier.

Marcello & Massimo Cuttitta (Italy Men)

As a winger and a prop, the Cuttitta twins were not exactly the proverbial pies in the pod, but they did manage to score Test tries together twice: against Morocco in Carcassonne during the Mediterranean Games tournament in 1993, and against the Netherlands in Calvisano during a RWC qualifying tournament in 1994. Massimo's legacy lives on in the form of the Cuttitta Cup, awarded annually in the Guinness Men's Six Nations to the winner of the Italy vs Scotland game.

David & Diogo Mateus (Portugal Men)

The Mateus’ played together for a long time with both club (Os Belenenses) and country (Os Lobos) and are without dispute the most successful rugby-playing twins from Portugal. With his aggressive tackling and top-end pace, Diogo was seen as the more gifted of the two and played in twice as many Tests, scoring 15 tries from 74 appearances compared to David’s six from 36. Twice they scored in the same match, and in the same year, against Czech Republic and Georgia in the European Nations Cup in 2003.

Talon & Takoda McMullin (Canada Men)

Identical twins are a commentator’s nightmare but, thankfully, Takoda distinguishes himself from Talon by wearing a blue scrum cap. The 22-year-olds with only a handful of caps between them look set for long Test careers judging by the impact they have made since debuting in July.

Marine & Romane Ménager (France Women)

Despite one being a pacey back and the other a back-row forward, Marine and Romane are very similar in both height and weight with only a centimetre and a few kgs between them in stature. One thing they share, as well as the spotlight given they are often addressed as one of the same, is the fact they each got a try against Ireland in 2019.

Emma & Jane Mitchell (England Women)

Born in 1966, the year England won the men’s Football World Cup, the Mitchell twins went on to become world champions themselves. Emma played scrum-half and Jane played full-back when England won the final of Women’s Rugby World Cup 1994, the former scoring one of her three Test tries in the 38-23 win over USA. Whilst that victory has done down in the annals of time, England’s 67-0 win over Italy the year before was also memorable, if only for the fact it was the only occasion the Mitchells scored in the same Red Roses match. Jane got one and Emma bagged a brace.