A select band of players have made their mark in both the 15- and 13-player versions of rugby. Here are 10 greats who’ve become stars in both union and league.
The top 10 cross-code rugby players have achieved something few in the world of sport can match – mastering two very different games.
While the basic premise of both rugby union and rugby league is the same – score tries, pass the ball backwards, kick the ball between the posts, etc – the two codes have evolved in very different directions, requiring their respective teams to develop distinct sets of skills.
As a result, only an elite group of players have managed to become stars in both the 15- and 13-player versions of rugby. Rugby World’s top 10 cross-code players have managed to force their way onto the honour roll of both sports.
The top 10 cross-code rugby players
1. Jason Robinson
(Manuel Blondeau/Photo & Co./Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
Jason Robinson is widely considered to be the greatest cross-code player of all time. Spending nine years with Wigan the flyer won everything. After rugby union went professional he was tempted to Bath Rugby for a brief stint, but it was his arrival at Sale Sharks in 2000 that saw him take on the world. Robinson was a key member of the England team that won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 and toured with the British & Irish Lions twice.
2. Andy Farrell
(Clive Brunskill/ALLSPORT)
Andy Farrell was just 16 when he made his Wigan debut in November 1991. Over the following 14 years Farrell helped Wigan win six Super League titles, six Challenge Cups and the World Club Challenge in 1994. Named Man of Steel on two separate occasions, he saw out his playing days with Saracens in rugby union and represented England at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. Since his 2009 retirement Farrell has forged a reputation as one of the world’s best coaches. After eight years as an assistant with England and Ireland the 51-year-old has coached Ireland since 2019 and led the team to Six Nations Championship titles in 2023 and 2024, including a Grand Slam in 2023. He was also head coach for the British and Irish Lions on their tour of Australia in 2025.
3. Michael Cleary
(Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Perhaps the least-heralded name on this list, Michael Cleary did not only excel at rugby, but in athletics too. A wing for Randwick in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Cleary represented the Wallabies in 1961 and impressed in Tests against Fiji. After signing for the South Sydney Rabbitohs he maintained amateur status and competed for Australia at the Commonwealth Games in Perth and placed third in the 100 yards. Spending the next decade of his career with the Rabbitohs, Cleary turned out for both the Kangaroos and New South Wales. He is one of only four Australian sportsmen to represent their country in three different sports at a senior level.
4. Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams of New Zealand breaks past Jonathan Davies of Wales during the Rugby World Cup 2019 Bronze Final match between New Zealand and Wales at Tokyo Stadium on November 01, 2019 in Chofu, Tokyo, Japan. (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Over the course of his career Sonny Bill Williams crossed codes a whopping three times. Starting his career with the Canterbury Bulldogs at just 18, the hard-carrying second-row forged a formidable reputation. In 2008 he first moved to rugby union when signing for Toulon and made his All Blacks debut in 2010 and won the Rugby World Cup on home soil in 2011. After returning to league for two years, Williams signed for the Chiefs in Super Rugby and then helped the All Blacks to another World Cup in the process. In 2016 he turned his hand to rugby sevens and played at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Four years later Williams returned to rugby league to sign for the now-defunct Toronto Wolfpack and retired with the Sydney Roosters.
5. John Bentley
(David Rogers /Allsport)
John Bentley made his England debut in rugby union at 21. Later that year he signed for rugby league outfit Leeds and was a professional. His time in West Yorkshire was a fruitful one. He scored over 150 tries for Leeds and Halifax before rugby union’s turn to professionalism lured him back. It is on the 1997 British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa that ‘Bentos’ is most fondly remembered. His energetic personality was showcased on Living With Lions (one of the best British & Irish Lions documentaries) and he played a key part in the stunning Test series win over the Springboks.
6. Jonathan Davies
(Allsport UK /Allsport)
There was outrage when Wales’ Jonathan “Jiffy” Davies embarked on his rugby league career. In 1989 he was signed for a record fee of £230,000 by Widnes amid talk of being the British & Irish Lions’ starting fly-half that season. The reason he chose to leave was in the best interests of his family. Quickly Davies became a crowd favourite. A first division champion in 1989, he later represented Great Britain and Wales. Davies did return to rugby union at the conclusion of his career, spending two years with Cardiff – and winning another five caps for the national team – before hanging up his boots.
7. Dai Young
(PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP via Getty Images)
When Dai Young left rugby union behind he was already a British & Irish Lion. The Welsh tighthead prop was tempted across codes in 1990 by Leeds for a fee of £150,000. Eventually leaving Yorkshire to play for Salford, he made over 150 appearances in Greater Manchester and captained Wales at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup. In 1996 the front-row returned to Cardiff, saw out the final six years of his career and was picked for two more Lions tours. Young is one of two players, along with Alun Wyn Jones, to represent the Lions in three separate decades.
8. Va’aiga Tuigamala
(Mike Hewitt/Allsport)
Along with Jason Robinson, Va’aiga Tuigamala is one of the best cross-code players ever. While playing rugby union for Auckland the rampaging back became an All Black, won 19 caps and played at the 1991 Rugby World Cup. In 1993 he crossed codes to play rugby league for Wigan where he won numerous trophies and played internationally for Samoa. After rugby union went professional in 1995 he returned to his first love, rugby union. Winning the Premiership with London Wasps in 1997, Tuigamala was signed for a then-world record £1,000,000 by Newcastle Falcons and helped the north east club win the Premiership in 1998 before seeing out his career at Kingston Park.
9. Brad Thorn
(Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Brad Thorn is possibly best remembered as the hulking second row forward that helped New Zealand to Rugby World Cup glory in 2011. But it was in rugby league he made his name. Making 14 State of Origin appearances for Queensland, Thorn won the NRL three times over two stints in the 13-a-side game. First moving to rugby union in 2000, Thorn made his All Blacks debut in 2003, earned just shy of 60 caps for the country of his birth and finished his international career as a world champion.
10. Marika Koroibete
(Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
In his debut NRL season with Wests Tigers in 2012, Marika Koroibete scored seven tries in six games. His raw pace and power picked up plenty of admirers. Two years later he moved to the Melbourne Storm and was widely considered one of the competition’s most exciting players. At the end of the 2015 season the wing scored 16 tries in 23 games. Tempted to rugby union by then Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, after playing for the Storm in the 2016 NRL Grand Final, Koroibete toured Europe with Australia. Making his Wallabies debut almost a year later against Argentina, his consistent performances in gold and green saw him become the first wing to win the John Eales Medal in 2019 and won it again 2022. Since 2021 Korobiete has played his club rugby in Japan with the Panasonic White Knights.
Download the digital edition of Rugby World straight to your tablet or subscribe to the print edition to get the magazine delivered to your door.