 | ||
A dual-code rugby international is a rugby footballer who has played at the senior international level in both rugby league and rugby union.
Contents
- New Zealand
- All Golds
- More than one country
- First dual code rugby international
- Other firsts and lasts
- Dual code internationals who also represented in a third sport
- Robert Graves
- Len Smith
- References
Rugby league started as a breakaway version of rugby in Northern England (1895) and in New Zealand and Australia in 1908 and consequently a number of the top-class rugby league pioneers had been star players in the rugby union code. Accordingly, a high proportion of Australia and New Zealand's dual-code rugby internationals played in rugby league's formative years in those countries.
From 1910 through to 1995, dual-code internationals were infrequent and with the single exception of Karl Ifwersen, the player had always first appeared as a union international before shifting to league due to strict "black-banning" applied by union administrators to those players who crossed to the professional code. In 1995 rugby union itself turned professional and the tide of switches began to reverse. Since then generally all cross-code representatives have debuted internationally in league before being lured to union where there is now the allure of a larger international competitive arena.
Backs have more often been dually successful at the highest level than forwards - approximately 65% of the players here listed are backs. Although pre-1995 there were many notable forwards who made the union to league switch. Since 1995 nearly 90% of the league to union converts who went on to play internationally have been backs.
The following is an incomplete list of dual-code internationals, listed by country.
New Zealand
There have been thirty seven New Zealand dual-code rugby internationals, including eighteen who made their debuts before World War One. However, only two people became dual-code rugby internationals after first representing New Zealand in rugby league: Karl Ifwersen and Sonny Bill Williams. The comprehensive list is:
All Golds
The 1907 Professional All Blacks (derisively referred to by the New Zealand press as the All Golds) left New Zealand in August 1907 for their ground-breaking tour of Britain via Sydney. The squad contained eight former All Blacks in George Smith, Thomas Cross, William Mackrell, Herbert Turtill, Duncan McGregor, Eric Watkins, Massa Johnston and Edgar Wrigley. These men became New Zealand's first dual-code internationals at the point they first played on the ten-month tour.
The three matches in Sydney between 17 and 24 August against professional New South Wales rugby rebels were played under rugby union rules so do not qualify as international rugby league appearances. But full internationals under "Northern Union" (rugby league) rules were played against Wales in Aberdare on 1 Januard 1908 and three Tests against Great Britain in Leeds on 25 January 1907, Chelsea on 8 February 1907 and Cheltenham on 15 February 1908. Three Test matches were played in Australia on the homeward leg before the All Golds arrived home in June 1908 having played 48 games (tour matches and Tests) as internationals.
More than one country
Dally Messenger
One week after his final Test appearance as a Wallaby, Messenger, who was born in Australia, toured Great Britain at the invitation of the All Golds in 1907 . His international rugby league debut was made on that tour representing New Zealand. His Australian international Test debut was made in Sydney in Australia's inaugural rugby league Test v the Kiwis on 9 May 1908. He made six further international rugby league appearances for Australia. His RU appearances for Australia and his subsequent RL appearance for New Zealand make him a dual country dual-code international. His international RL appearances for New Zealand and then Australia make him a dual-code international who represented two countries in one of those codes.
Emosi Koloto
Koloto grew up in New Zealand playing rugby union and represented Tonga in the code before switching to league and moving to England. He was called up into the Kiwis in 1991 from the Widnes club and played five tests that year.
John Schuster
Schuster first played rugby union, representing both Samoa and New Zealand. Later he switched to rugby league and captained Western Samoa in their two pool games at the 1995 World Cup.
Henry Paul
Paul was born in New Zealand. His senior club rugby league career was played in England but between 1995 and 2001 he regularly returned to New Zealand to make international appearances for the Kiwis. When he switched to union in 2002 he became eligible to represent England by ancestry of his grandfather and he did so in 2002.
Brad Thorn
Thorn was born in Mosgiel, New Zealand. From age eight he played rugby league in Queensland and at twenty-two he represented for Australia (Super League) during the Super League split year. When the code re-united in 1998 he also represented in the Australia national (ARL) side.
In 2001 he moved to New Zealand and switched to rugby union. He appeared in twelve Tests for the All Blacks from 2003. For 2005-06 he returned to the National Rugby League in Australia, winning a premiership with the Brisbane Broncos and representing at state level. In 2008 he switched to rugby union for a second time and was again selected for the All Blacks. He is thus a dual-code and dual-country international who has made the code switch twice and has represented internationally at rugby union in two different stages of his career.
Michael Horak
Horak was born in South Africa and represented for the South Africa national rugby league team. He switched to rugby union in 1998 moving to England to play with the Leicester Tigers. He qualifies to represent England via his English mother and did so in 2002.
Lesley Vainikolo
Vainikolo was born in Tonga but raised in New Zealand playing rugby league at school. His league club career was played with the Canberra Raiders in Australia and the Bradford Bulls in England. During that period he made twelve national representative appearances for Kiwis.
He took up union with Gloucester Rugby in 2007. He was eligible to play for Tonga by birth, New Zealand by parentage or England by residence. He had previously declined to play for Tonga in the 2007 Rugby World Cup so that he could play for his adopted nation. He made his international rugby union debut for England v Wales in February 2008 and played in five tests that season.
Craig Gower
After a successful eleven year Australian rugby league career from 1996 to 2007 with the Penrith Panthers during which he made five State of Origin appearances for New South Wales and twenty-three Test appearances for Australia (5 x Super League and 18 ARL), Gower moved to Europe, switched codes and signed with French rugby union side Bayonne from 2008. He is eligible to play for Italy through the heritage of his Italian grandfather. He was selected for Italy on their mid-season tour of Australia and New Zealand in 2009.
Shontayne Hape
Hape, a New Zealand Mãori, had a very successful rugby league career in both hemispheres, first with the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL (1999–2002) and then with the Bradford Bulls in Super League (2003–2008). He made his Test debut for New Zealand in the 2004 Tri-Nations, and eventually appeared in 14 Tests for New Zealand. Hape switched codes in 2008, signing with Bath, for whom he still plays. Under IRB rules, he was already eligible to represent England on residency grounds, having lived there for well over the three years required to qualify. Hape made his union Test debut for England in 2010 against Australia.
Maurie Fa'asavalu
Maurie Fa'asavalu is a Samoan rugby union player who formerly played rugby league for St Helens. He was picked in the Great Britain rugby league squad after living in England for 4 years. He also played for England in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup
Bill Hardcastle
A New Zealander and an 1897 All Black, Hardcastle journeyed to Sydney in 1899 on hearing that the visiting British rugby union team would be not be travelling to New Zealand. Australian rugby in those days had no residential rules and once he joined Sydney's Glebe RU club he qualified for Australian national selection. He was chosen for Australia in the fourth test of 1899 against Great Britain.
In rugby league he made two Test appearances for Australia and six minor appearances on the 1908 Kangaroo tour.
Va'aiga Tuigamala
Tuigamala initially represented New Zealand in rugby union and gained the nickname “Inga the Winger”. He then switched codes, joining Wigan in 1993. While playing league he represented Western Samoa at the 1995 World Cup. When rugby union turned professional he returned to his original code. Between 1996 and 2000 he represented Samoa in rugby union.
Lote Tuqiri
Born in Fiji, Tuqiri was a junior Australian rugby league international at age 19 in 1998. When he missed selection for Australia's 2000 Rugby League World Cup squad he opted to play for Fiji and captained the side in their three pool match appearances. He later played four rugby league Tests for Australia in 2001 before his 2003 switch to union and a long international representative career in that code.
Fred Jackson
Jackson toured Australasia with the 1908 Anglo-Welsh Lions. However, during the tour he was accused of professionalism and recalled to England by the Rugby Football Union. Jackson left the touring party but failed to return to England to face the accusations. In 1910 Jackson played rugby league in New Zealand and represented both Auckland and New Zealand against the touring Great Britain side.
First dual-code rugby international
England's Anthony Starks and Wales' Jack Rhapps took the field in the inaugural rugby league international of 5 April 1904 between England and Other Nationalities Starks had made two rugby union Test appearances for England in 1896, and Rhapps had made a single rugby union Test appearance for Wales in 1897, and thus in April 1904 they became the world's first dual rugby code internationals.
The first tour matches played by the New Zealand All Golds in Britain in Nov & Dec 1907 would have seen international cross-code debuts by some of the seven touring former All Blacks. At this stage of the tour the New Zealanders were still familiarising themselves with the new Northern Union rules which they had not seen until they arrived in Leeds in October. The first full international of the tour against Wales on New Year's Day 1908 saw confirmed appearances by Mackrell, Turtill, Wrigley, Johnston & Cross for New Zealand and David Jones for Wales. Thus New Zealand's first five dual-code rugby internationals all achieved that feat in the same match.
Other firsts and lasts
Dual-code internationals who also represented in a third sport
Michael Cleary represented Australia in track & field at the Commonwealth Games making him an international at the senior level in three sports. Dick Thornett achieved the same distinction having also represented for Australia in water polo at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Robert Graves
Robert Graves is erroneously excluded from some published sources listing Australian dual-code internationals (including a number of editions of David Middletons' Australian Rugby League Yearbook). This is most likely because his single Wallaby appearance was made as a reserve.
Len Smith
Len Smith's international status in rugby league is undoubted, despite the infamy of his 1948 selection controversy. Both his international league appearances were made as captain. What is contested is whether he ever made an international rugby union appearance.
Smith was selected as an Australian rugby union international for the ill-fated 1939 tour of Great Britain. Docking at Southampton the day before World War II was declared, the team left England without playing a game. The Whiticker reference records that "the squad played an exhibition match in Bombay on the journey home so that the players could be afforded international status". However rugby league historian Sean Fagan casts doubt on this, citing his 1998 interview with Smith where Smith said the game was played between one-half of the touring squad against the other with the numbers made up by military personnel on hand in Bombay. This is supported by the Pollard reference which records that the Australia played against a "Gymkhana XV made up of military men and others".