sport news Triple trouble: The Du Preez brothers have made Sale their home and are eyeing ... trends now

Squeezed into a courtyard garden on the outskirts of Manchester, the three Du Preez brothers are huddled together to recreate a childhood photograph from 2002.

‘At one point I was the biggest but they caught up pretty quickly,’ says the eldest, Rob, sandwiched between the giant twins Dan and Jean-Luc.

The image takes them back to their childhood, wearing Crusaders jerseys from their club in Durban, at the beginning of their remarkable rugby journey.

‘If we went out for lunch somewhere, we’d always find a patch of grass to play two-on-one,’ adds Rob, 29, the most forthcoming of the siblings. ‘There was always some kind of sport going on. Cricket, basketball, soccer. The twins were brilliant at waterpolo. Dan could definitely have got Springbok colours if he’d kept playing.’

Dan, 27, chips in: ‘I was a striker and JL was a centre back. It’s very physical but we like physical games! You hold the ball in one hand, it definitely helps with your offloading. There was a provincial tournament at the end of the year where we played against [South Africa hooker] Malcolm Marx... he was tough!’

The fiercest of the brothers, Jean-Luc, adds: ‘We even played sixth team soccer... the fighting team!’

Moving over to the sofa, they cram in side-by-side with Rob’s cuddly cockapoo, Dubs.

‘If you wanted to gauge personalities, you should see the twins’ dogs,’ says Rob with a laugh. ‘I’ve got this little handbag dog and they’ve got big Italian Mastiffs from the same litter. About 50kgs each!’

They reminisce about their school summer holidays spent on their grandma’s farm back in South Africa. They would leave the city for Potchefstroom, near the Mooi River. ‘We’d lift up rocks looking for snakes and spiders,’ recalls Jean-Luc. ‘Pretty stupid when you think about it!’

Their first rugby match together was back at Kearsney College, as teenagers, where the twins played in the pack and Rob wore the No10 jersey. ‘The twins were playing two years up and we beat Hilton 43-0,’ says Rob. ‘They were in 10th grade. JL scored a worldie of a try!’

Now the brothers see Sale as their adopted home. Over the past four years, they have all bought houses in the area, got married and had children. Dan hosts a braai every other weekend — ‘a few chops, a chicken, a couple of tomahawks [steaks]’ — but on Sunday their focus is on their play-off against Leicester.

Rob starts in a heavyweight centre partnership alongside Manu Tuilagi, and Jean Luc is at lock, with Dan coming off the bench.