Frans ten Bos

Who is Frans ten Bos?

Frans Herman ten Bos was an English-born rugby union footballer, of Dutch ancestry. He played for Scotland as a lock in the 1960s, and was capped seventeen times. He is arguably the most successful Dutch rugby player prior to Tim Visser and the professional era.

Ten Bos attended Fettes College in Edinburgh, where he was introduced to the game, and later played for Oxford University RFC and London Scottish FC.

Ten Bos was controversially dropped before the Scotland-Ireland game in Dublin in 1960, because he was recovering from an injury. 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."

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.