List of Dual-code Rugby Internationals - More Than One Country

More Than One Country

No. Player Int'l Debut Year At Cross Code Debut Date At Position
1. Dally Messenger 2nd RU Test Australia v New Zealand 1907 Brisbane RL New Zealand v Wales 1 Jan 1908 Aberdare Centre
2. Frederick Stanley Jackson RU British Lions tour of Australasia 1908 New Zealand v Great Britain 1910 Auckland Back
3. Emosi Koloto RU Test Tonga v Wales 12 June 1986 Nuku A'lofa RL New Zealand v ? 1991 Forward
4. John Schuster RU Test New Zealand v Australia 3 July 1988 Sydney RL Western Samoa v France 5 Sept 1995 Cardiff Back
5. Va'aiga Tuigamala RWC New Zealand v USA 1991 Gloucester RLWC Western Samoa v France 12 Oct 1995 Cardiff Back
6. Henry Paul RL Test New Zealand v France 1995 Auckland RU England v France 2 Mar 2002 Saint-Denis Back
7. Michael Horak RL South Africa v ? 1997? RU England v Argentina 22 June 2002 Buenos Aires Back
8. Lote Tuqiri RLWC Fiji v Russia 2000 1st RU Test Australia v Ireland 7 June 2003 Perth Winger
9. Coenraad Breytenbach RLWC South Africa v Tonga 2000 Russia v Georgia 2002 Centre
10. Brad Thorn RL Australia v New Zealand 1997 Sydney RU New Zealand v Wales 21 June 2003 Hamilton Forward
11. Maurie Fa'asavalu Rugby Union Samoa v South Africa 6 July 2002 Pretoria RL Test Great Britain v New Zealand 27 Oct 2007 Huddersfield Forward
12. Lesley Vainikolo RL ANZAC Test New Zealand v Australia 1999 Sydney RU England v Wales 2 Feb 2008 London Wing
13. Craig Gower SL Test Australia v New Zealand 1997 Sydney RU Test Italy v Australia 13 June 2009 Canberra Stadium Fly-half / five eighth
14. Shontayne Hape RL Tri-Nations Test New Zealand v Great Britain 20 Nov 2004 Hull RU Test England v Australia 12 June 2010 Perth Back
15. Tasesa Lavea RL ANZAC Test New Zealand v Australia 2000 ? RU Samoa v Ireland 13 Nov 2010 Dublin Back
16. Cooper Vuna RL Tonga v ?? 2008 ? RU Australia v Wales 09 Jun 2012 Brisbane Back

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.

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