11 rugby stars who played for football academies

Owen Farrell (Manchester United): The England captain trained with the Manchester United youth team as a goalkeeper. Modestly, he insists he would never have made the grade and that his passion was always rugby league. But Farrell's trial was cut short when his family moved south - and he left both sports behind for rugby union.

Ben & Tom Curry (Manchester City): It is true that they had a trial at Manchester City, who the twins support, but that was scuppered by Tom scoring an own goal. Probably for the best in the end.

Toby Flood (Newcastle United): After two years at the club he was released by academy director John Carver in the 90s. They were reunited almost 15 years later when Flood was playing at St James park with the Falcons and Carver was manager of the toon army.

Alex Lewington (Notts County): The speedster started his sporting life as a footballer in Notts County's academy - he was a frustrated forward playing as a defender and was soon to be disenfranchised with the game.

Wesley Fofana (Paris): Before the France debuted with Claremont, however, he trained with CFF Paris’ youth team. It wasn’t until Fofana was a teenager that he decided to leave his dreams of being a top-class footballer behind and went head first into playing rugby.

Alex Goode (Ipswich Town): A box-to-box hardworking player, he'd bring balance to this midfield.

Alex Lozowski (Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham): He played in a number of football academies before making the decision to pursue rugby. We think he'd bring creativity to the centre of the park. Lozowski even played with England captain Harry Kane at ARSENAL,

Aaron Wainwright (Cardiff City): He looked destined for a career in football having been on the books of Cardiff City and Newport County during his teenage years. He then took up rugby after being released age 16.

Danny Care (Sheffield Wednesday): The England scrum-half, who used to play in the same youth side as Jamie Vardy, will look to get in behind for this XI.

Danny Cipriani (QPR): The centre forward played for Queens Park Rangers juniors and nearly joined Readings’ youth academy before deciding on rugby as his sport of choice. In recent years, Cipriani has tested the football waters with Colorado Rapids and MK Dons interested in him.