LIST: 5 Lions who had normal jobs before turning pro

The flanker worked a disk jockey in his teens before winning a professional contract with Cardiff Blues. He continues to pursue it as a hobby and has earned the nickname Navici in the Lions camp, which is a mash of Navidi and Avicii.

After secondary school, the Scotland star pursued an apprenticeship for three years as a stonemason, in a business owned by a family friend, whilst his rugby developed. Pocketing £100 per week, supplemented by £60 in his hand from Falkirk Rugby Club, Russell is now one of the pre-eminent stand-offs in world rugby and certainly one of the most exciting.

This is the picture that illustrates the heights Williams has scaled to reach international rugby, starting off as a scaffolder. It wasn’t work for the faint-hearted, with Williams rigging scaffolding “over the top of a blast furnace, 300 feet from the ground” back in Wales.

Having tried his hand at rugby in his youth, joining local club Luctonians aged nine, Hill initially favoured football before a failed college application forced him into an unexpected gap year, where he'd work on the family farm

Hill returned to Luctonians and after being encouraged to turn up to a walk-up trial at Hartpury College aged 17, he became a first-team fixture at the National League Two South side. 

As part of his university course, Harris was required to do a few days work experience with a construction firm. At Story Homes, he was taken through each role of the various technicians, gaining a better insight to what was involved. However, instead of pursuing a career in Architecture, he was offered a professional contract by Newcastle Falcons aged 21.