Allan Frederick Jacobsen is Edinburgh's record all-time appearance holder and has been a tremendous servant to the club over the past decade, transforming himself into a world class prop in the process.
A mainstay of both the Edinburgh and Scotland packs, Jacobsen recorded his 200th appearance in the black and red away to Newport Gwent Dragons in September 2008, 11 years after making his debut against the touring ACT Brumbies at Meggetland in November 1997. Jacobsen signed as a professional before the start of the 1999/2000 season.
His first start came against Dunvant that same season and he went on to make his Heineken Cup bow as a replacement at Northampton Saints in December 1999.
The Prestonpans-raised forward was among the Scotland try scorers in the non-cap 38-7 win against the Barbarians in Aberdeen in May 2005.
He made his first RBS Six Nations start against Italy in Rome in 2004 and followed that a week later by starting against the French at Murrayfield. On the subsequent summer tour to Australia, injury limited him to only two outings (against Queensland Reds and New South Wales Country), but he regained his starting place for that year’s Autumn Tests series.
Jacobsen made his first start in a Murrayfield Test when he played against Ireland in the RWC Countdown Test in September 2003. Even though he was omitted for the World Cup in Australia, he was subsequently called up as a replacement for the injured Gavin Kerr.
A product of the Preston Lodge club in East Lothian, Jacobsen has played age-group representative rugby for Edinburgh and was a graduate of the Scotland under-21 and under-18 teams. He was selected for the opening match of Scotland's 2007 World Cup campaign against Portugal, but his tournament came to a premature end when he suffered a severe calf problem during that same game.
The front rower soon recovered from the injury and surpassed Chris Paterson's milestone as the club's record appearance holder in the Heineken Cup when he recorded his 43rd European outing against Leicester in November 2007.
He went on to achieve his 50th European outing against London Wasps that November, and won his 50th Scotland cap in the EMC Autumn Test against Samoa in November 2010.
