#5. Martin Johnson – American Football
The future World Cup winning England captain briefly played American football in the early 1990’s for the Leicester Panthers, his local American football team as a tight end or defensive end, but he didn’t consider taking it any further.
Johnson said: ‘I’d never be quick enough. In our sport, you try to get good rugby players and make them into athletes. In the NFL they’ve got some good athletes who they make into players. How quick you do the 40 [run 40 yards] is the big thing. “What? He does the 40 in 4.2? He’s that quick?” They love their stats.’
