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Back in 1983, the legendary South African rugby union fly-half Hendrik Egnatius “Naas” Botha hung up his rugby boots in favor of a trial as a placekicker with the NFL team, the Dallas Cowboys. Botha reportedly kicked all his 21 field goals during the trial and is said to have signed a three-year deal with the Texas franchise. So, can rugby players hack it with the NFL?
Based on Botha’s example and several others, the answer seems affirmative but isn’t that simple. Naas Botha was back in Springbok rugby colors within three years, playing against the New Zealand Cavaliers rebel team. He is not the only example of a rugby player whose attempt at NFL glory was cut short. Some others have succeeded on American Football’s central stage, though.
Players Who Successfully Switched Sporting Codes
Percentage-wise, the number of rugby players who succeeded in the NFL is low but far outweighs those who have changed sporting codes in the opposite direction. So, is rugby harder than football?
The only noteworthy example of an NFL player switching to rugby is when two-time Super Bowl winner Nate Ebner, formally of the New England Patriots, took a leave of absence from his NFL team in 2016 to try out for the U.S. national rugby sevens team. Ebner made the cut, representing the United States in that year’s Summer Olympics. He made the Olympic sevens squad and scored a try during the tournament before returning to the Patriots.
You may find the NFL’s financial reward more significant, discouraging players from the American code from switching to the more international game. Conversely, this potential reward may encourage rugby players to seek their fortune in football’s top tier. Or is rugby more dangerous than football, prompting players to consider lengthening their careers in the NFL? The first reason seems more likely, considering the amount of money in football in general.
Whatever the case, several rugby players have successfully made it in professional football, meaning rugby players can hack it with the NFL, albeit fewer than you might think. If you follow the NFL, you’ll recognize some of these names, perhaps more than a rugby supporter.
David Tukatahi Dixon
Around the time Naas Botha was trying out for the Cowboys, New Zealander Dixon was a 14-year-old representing his Pukekohe high school on the rugby field. Nine years later, he earned the NFL draft ninth-round selection for the New England Patriots roster. You might recall triple Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers linebacker Riki Ellison as the first New Zealand Maori to play in the NFL — Dixon was the second and the first to make the grade as a former rugby player in the NFL.
Dixon played for the Minnesota Vikings for 11 seasons and also made the practice squads of three other NFL franchises. He proudly earned a Super Bowl ring as a 1993 Dallas Cowboys practice squad member, although he didn’t receive a physical ring in this capacity. You’ll agree David Tukatahi Dixon indeed hacked it in the NFL.
Gary Anderson
Parys-born South African Anderson first set foot on American soil in 1977 at 18 years old, having played school rugby in his homeland throughout his teenage years. You could say Anderson was a football natural, slotting 50-yard drop kicks over the poles at a local Pennsylvania high school only days after moving to the U.S. Within a week, Anderson accepted a scholarship to Syracuse before the Buffalo Bills drafted him as a placekicker in 1982, after his graduation.
Anderson made his name for the Pittsburgh Steelers, spending 13 seasons in the second-largest Pennsylvania city. He also represented the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings and the Tennessee Titans in an NFL career spanning 23 seasons. Over this extended period, Anderson successfully converted 538 of 672 field goal attempts of his field goals for an 80.1% success rate. Surely, Gary Anderson is one of rugby’s greatest NFL success stories.
Daniel Faalele
The third and most recent example of a rugby-turned-football success is one you’ll recognize if you’re a Ravens fan. Faalele spent his youth playing rugby union in the Australian city of Melbourne before a scout from the University of Hawai’i discovered him. He was subsequently recruited to play academy football in Florida and only began learning to play in 2016, aged 16.
Notably, the 384-pound Australian-born guard, at 22 years old, became the heaviest rostered NFL player after Baltimore drafted him in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL draft. Now 25, he has since represented the franchise on 48 occasions and has a stellar NFL career ahead of him.
Less Successful NFL-Rugby Imports
The three examples of successful rugby imports to the NFL all have one thing in common — they all started playing football at early ages after playing rugby union at youth levels. Are these the best examples of rugby players successfully switching to the NFL? Although there are other examples, most follow a similar path, with those who’ve previously plied their rugby trade at a higher level not succeeding in a similar vein.
Alongside Naas Botha, some other, more recent high-profile names from the rugby world have attempted to switch codes, but without notable success.
Think of Christian Wade, who was capped internationally by England in rugby union and the player with the fifth-most tries in Premiership rugby. In 2019, at the height of his rugby career, 28-year-old Wade scored a 65-yard touchdown on his debut as a running back in an NFL preseason game for the Buffalo Bills. Despite the feat, he was waived by the Bills less than a month later — Wade returned to rugby union in 2022, having not played an official NFL game.
Perhaps the most high-profile rugby player to switch to the NFL mid-career is the Welsh rugby union international Louis Rees-Zammit. Now 23, the winger with 32 Welsh caps and eight international tries decided to switch codes to football, signing a contract as a running back for the current Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs.
After not making the final Chiefs’ roster cut, Rees-Zammit joined the Jacksonville Jaguars as a wide receiver. He is yet to debut in the current NFL season, which is well underway.
Why is Transitioning Between Sporting Codes Difficult?
Rugby and football involve an odd-shaped ball, kicking for poles and incredible physicality. Despite these similarities, they are entirely different sports that require different skill sets and physical attributes from their participants.
While rugby involves over 80 minutes of nonstop action, football features high-intensity, explosive bursts with breaks and personnel changes in between. NFL players carry more bulk, muscle and height on average compared to their professional rugby counterparts, while the leaner and faster rugby players need more stamina to succeed at the highest levels.
You’ll find that professional rugby players can likely squat more in the gym, while you won’t beat a pro football player’s bench press. Think of the bench press totals of NFL players rated the strongest — even the biggest lock and prop forwards in rugby union will struggle to compete.
Successful rugby converts to football tend to make the change early on in life, meaning adapting to a new sport is more straightforward than playing at a top level for years and then trying to transition. Considering how many attempt the change, is rugby more popular than football or vice versa?
Internationally, rugby is among the top 10 most popular sports, while American football is not. Thus, it stands to reason that more rugby players will attempt to cross over in search of fame and fortune in the NFL — there are, after all, more rugby players in the world. Crossing over and crossing over successfully are different things entirely, though.
The Jury is Out
Individual ex-rugby players have shown that making it in the NFL is possible, but most who have done so did not succeed at rugby’s highest level before making the change. Keeping your eye on Louis Rees-Zammit’s NFL progress with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who has, might be the best way to provide a definitive answer. Even then, he’s only one player — the transition is obviously more challenging than you might think.
If you want to learn more about what makes NFL stars unique and challenging for breakthrough ex-rugby players to emulate, check out Impossible NFL Highlights: 12 Miraculous Feats of Athleticism.
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Author
Jack Shaw is a senior writer at Modded. Jack is an avid enthusiast for keeping up with personal health and enjoying nature. He has over five years of experience writing in the men's lifestyle niche, and has written extensively on topics of fitness, exploring the outdoors and men's interests. His writings have been featured in SportsEd TV, Love Inc., and Offroad Xtreme among many more publications.
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