Luke Crosbie reckons the support of his family has been the biggest factor in him reaching 100 appearances for Edinburgh.

The Scotland flanker will reach that milestone this weekend if Sean Everitt names him in his side to face Benetton in Treviso.

His family have played a big role in that and that includes his girlfriend and her family, who are fairly new to the sport.

Crosbie’s girlfriend is Belle Hassan, the daughter of Football Factory and Game of Thrones actor Tamar Hassan and they’ve both been getting into rugby since the relationship started.

Livingston-born Crosbie admits he doesn’t come from a rugby background and neither he nor his family knew what it was before he picked up the sport. 

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He said: “No one in my family really knew what rugby was. I saw it at Livingston and kind of just picked it up and that’s it. Now here we are at potentially 100 games [for Edinburgh]. It’s been a pretty mad ride, to be fair.

“If selected, I get my 100th this weekend. It means a lot, having come through the club. I never thought I’d get to 100 but it’s come up pretty quick. I’m 27 so 100 games is an alright stat which I’ll take. I’m just happy to be able to play that much for my home club and looking forward to it.

“I obviously came from the [under-]20s then pre-season games at Meggetland then the first [competitive] game was Zebre at Myreside when we used to play there.

“We’ve got a better pitch now and our own stadium so it’s been cool to come through the whole journey and 100 games is a massive achievement. My family and girlfriend are all buzzing as well.”

And when asked if his family played a big role, he replied: “Aye, definitely. My family, my dad and my uncle especially.

"They drove to under-20 games in France. And when we played London Irish in one of the first games when I was breaking through, they drove there. They rarely miss games.

“My girlfriend’s new to the rugby scene. We’ve been together for about six months but she’s a big support. She’s starting to realise how sore you are after the games. She’s got a big job keeping me fed but she’s doing a good job so far.

“She loves it and her dad loves it as well, and her mum, so they’re big supporters.

“He’s a tough man, like. One the first times I met him he wanted to make sure I could protect his daughter so it turned into a little sparring match at Christmas. I passed the test."

While the personal achievement is welcome, Crosbie knows his 100th appearance is overshadowed the importance of the game in Italy.

It’s effectively a straight shootout between the two teams for a play-off place and Crosbie doesn’t want to be on the wrong end of it.

He added: “We know the importance of the game. We need to win it but that’s the same for all our games and we’re just going in with the same preparation.

"We know how important it is but it’s about us delivering away from home and getting the job done.”