Brothers are taking to the pitch for a Tait-a-Tait

Mar 6 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

Alex Tait used to be scared of ghosts but he has never been frightened of his older brother Mathew. Chief sports writer Luke Edwards finds out what happens when two siblings collide on a rugby pitch

IT is every child’s worst nightmare, the creaking floorboard on the landing, the dark corner of the room where the monsters lurk and the cupboard where the ghosts lie in wait for the shivering boy cowering in his bed.

For a young Alex Tait with an imagination to match his rapidly emerging rugby skills, there were plenty of things that went bump in the night.

But there was also an older brother, Mathew, to keep him safe from the ghouls and goblins, to comfort him when the bad dreams woke him in the middle of a dark County Durham night.

The Tait brothers have always been close – even when Mathew flew the family nest to sign for Sale Sharks last summer – their bond forged by a close-knit family and a mutual love of rugby which has seen them progress from their formative years at Barnard Castle School into the Newcastle Falcons’ Academy and, eventually, into the first team of the club they had grown up supporting.

Yet, there has always been more than a hint of sibling rivalry in their brotherly love, a competitive streak which will ensure the sparks fly when the two brothers, Alex, 20, and Mathew, 23, line up on opposite sides of a rugby pitch on Sunday.

The last time the Tait brothers clashed, there were fisticuffs, a broken hand and tears over an untidy bedroom, but it will be pride and points, not dirty pants, which will test their relationship in Manchester this weekend.

“We got on when we were younger, although we had our moments growing up,” said Alex, whose return to the side following injury has coincided with a dramatic upturn in form for Newcastle Falcons which has seen them win their last four games.