Owen Franks. Photo / Getty Images
The Franks brothers were not born so much as carved out of a block of granite.
Owen Franks, almost four years younger than Ben, is charged with ensuring the All Blacks retain scrum primacy over the rest of the world. There is no task in the world that would excite
him more.
Franks goes to bed at night dreaming about scrums. He comes to work thinking about scrums. If he's not eating, he can usually be found pushing weights at the gym or with his head shoved into a scrum machine.
Talking of eating, Franks unintentionally amuses his Crusaders teammates by turning up to training with his own packed lunchbox, even though food is provided for all. While it is scrummaging that is the cornerstone of Franks' game, he is renowned for his powerful tackling in the open field.
He's not a man you want to run into. Twice in two weeks during this year's Super 14, he was involved in horrific head clashes; both times he walked away virtually unscathed while leaving the others - the Bulls' Flip van der Merwe and Chief Tanerau Latimer - dazed and bloody messes.
