Frans ten Bos
| Date of birth | 21 April 1937 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of birth | Richmond, England | ||
| School | Fettes College | ||
| University | University of Oxford | ||
| Occupation(s) | former Chairman of Henderson Strata and WACE | ||
| Rugby union career | |||
| Playing career | |||
| Position | Lock | ||
| Amateur clubs | |||
| Years | Club / team | ||
| London Scottish FC Oxford University RFC Anglo-Scots | |||
| correct as of 15 November 2009. | |||
| National team(s) | |||
| Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
| 1959-1963 | Scotland | 17 | (3) |
| correct as of 15 November 2009. | |||
Frans Herman ten Bos (21 April 1937)[1] was an English-born rugby union footballer, of Dutch ancestry. He played for Scotland as a lock in the 1960s,[2] and was capped seventeen times.[3] He is arguably the most successful Dutch rugby player prior to Tim Visser and the professional era.
Ten Bos attended Fettes College in Edinburgh,[3] where he was introduced to the game, and later played for Oxford University RFC and London Scottish FC.[2]
Ten Bos was controversially dropped before the Scotland-Ireland game in Dublin in 1960, because he was recovering from an injury.[4] Yet according to Bill McLaren, "he took part in all the preparatory activities and pronounced himself as fit to play. He certainly gave it 100 per cent during a vigorous session." Yet Alf Wilson, chairman of the selectors, did not think so, and he was replaced by Oliver Grant of Hawick. McLaren continues: "there was a feeling that ten Bos had been unfairly treated and that the lad himself was hurt and distressed by the decision to leave him out."[4]
Notably, ten Bos scored a try against Wales in Cardiff, in the 1962 match there, which resulted in Scotland's first victory against Wales in an away game in thirty five years; the score was 8-3 to Scotland.[5]
A famous story involving ten Bos and Hugh McLeod is told by Bill McLaren. On the evening before the 1963 game between Scotland and France at Colombes in Paris, Hugh McLeod and Bill McLaren were out having a meal together and bumped into ten Bos near a cafe.[6] Hugh McLeod took Ten Bos aside, and told him bluntly:
- "Frans, ye think ye're a guid forrit [forward] but really ye're jist a big lump o' potted meat. If ah was half yer size I'd pick up the first two Frenchman that looked at me the morn [tomorrow] and ah'd chuck them right ower the bloody stand."[6]
Scotland later won the game 11-6, rare for an away game.[6]
Ten Bos tapped McLaren on the shoulder as they left the cafe, and said, "You know, I'd follow him anywhere."[6]
He later became Chairman of Henderson Strata Investments.[3]
He is profiled in the August, 1973 edition of Rugby World.[7]
References and sources
Printed and Electronic Sources
- McLaren, Bill Talking of Rugby (1991, Stanley Paul, London ISBN 0-09-173875-X),
- Massie, Allan A Portrait of Scottish Rugby (Polygon, Edinburgh; ISBN 0-904919-84-6)
- Distinguished Pupils on Fettes.com