Ulster Rugby star Nathan Doak hoping to help fulfil father's Kingspan dream alongside brother Cameron

​Nathan, following in his father’s footsteps, donned the number nine shirt while Cameron came off the bench in the front – and to add the icing on the cake, Nathan captained Ulster in their pre-season friendly at Benetton.

The older sibling by two years, Nathan admitted he couldn’t give his brother much advice on scrummaging but could on soaking up the whole experience.

Ulster travel to Cavan this afternoon to face Glasgow with Nathan starting and Cameron on the bench.

“I don’t know much about the front row now so I can’t comment on that,” joked Nathan. “When I was making my debut or playing for Ulster the first time, I know what I felt so I assumed he would probably be feeling something similar.

“I tried to give him a bit of wisdom and just told him to be himself and don’t try to build it up into something it’s not.

“Just go out there and enjoy yourself because you only get your first opportunity once and give it your best shot.

“I actually though he went really well. As a brother watching I know he is quite young and he was actually playing loosehead when he is a tighthead.

“As a brother I was really nervous, but I was proud of how he went and I thought he did really well.

"It was good for me to watch and put a smile on my face.”

Nathan is hoping to help fulfil one of his father’s wishes of watching both brothers run out together at the Kingspan Stadium in the near future.

“When I was growing up, I was second born after my sister,” he said. “My dad always said to me when he was growing up he would have loved to have played with his brother out in the back garden.

“He didn’t have a brother so that was a big driver for him to have a third kid and I know it was his dream when we were growing up to see the two of us playing at Kingspan together.

“He has always instilled that in me and I have been trying to drive Cameron along as well.

"Hopefully it does happen one day and give the big man a smile on his face.

“I’m sure he was happy enough watching the two of us back at home and hopefully there is another opportunity for the two of us to do it again sometime.”

Doak was happy to don the skipper’s armband.

“When I first came into the team it wasn’t something I was thinking about,” he added. “I have taken on a bit of a leadership role naturally at scrum-half and playing a bit of 10 and I really enjoy it.

“I got to captain in the second-half against Leinster last week, then Dan spoke to me about captaining the side which is something that really excited me.

"I also got to play with my brother so on a personal level it was a very special moment for me and I didn’t need much motivation going into the game.

“I think you can’t force someone into that sort of role – it has to be pretty natural and luckily we have a lot of natural leaders in the squad and to be a part of the group with the young and older guys it is really exciting.

“If you are a leader, I think you lead by your actions on the pitch first and bring people with you because if you talk the whole time you are just saying words and it doesn’t mean anything.

“I like to lead by my actions and the way to do that is play my best rugby and do it out on the pitch.”

Ulster team vs Glasgow Warriors

(15-9) Will Addison, Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Jude Postlethwaite, Jacob Stockdale, Jake Flannery, Nathan Doak.

(1-8) Andrew Warwick, Tom Stewart (C), Greg McGrath, Matty Rea, Kieran Treadwell, Dave Ewers, Marcus Rea, Dave McCann.

Replacements: John Andrew, Billy Burns, Ben Carson, Reuben Crothers, Angus Curtis, Cameron Doak, Ben Griffin, Cormac Izuchukwu, Ethan McIlroy, Conor Mckee, Stewart Moore, Ben Moxham, Shea O’Brien, Aaron Sexton, Dave Shanahan, Harry Sheridan, Nick Timoney.