6. Israel Folau<\/p>\n
Few rugby careers have ended in such controversial circumstances.<\/p>\n
Israel Folau was one of the most gifted players in world rugby, but his career in Australia came to an abrupt end following a series of controversial social media posts.<\/p>\n
Rugby Australia terminated his contract in 2019, sparking a bitter legal battle and a huge public debate that stretched far beyond sport.<\/p>\n
Folau later returned to international rugby with Tonga, but his name remains one of the most divisive in the modern game.<\/p>\n
5. Dan Biggar<\/p>\n
The arm waving. The shouting. The constant conversations with referees.<\/p>\n
Dan Biggar had all the ingredients required to become one of rugby\u2019s great pantomime villains.<\/p>\n
The Wales fly-half was fiercely competitive and never attempted to hide his emotions on the pitch.<\/p>\n
Opposition supporters often found his antics infuriating, but Biggar\u2019s teammates loved his passion and relentless desire to win.<\/p>\n
4. Joe Marler<\/p>\n
There are few players in rugby history quite like Joe Marler.<\/p>\n
The England prop spent much of his career dividing opinion through his comments, confrontations and unpredictable behaviour.<\/p>\n
Marler could be hilarious one minute and involved in controversy the next, with his ability to wind up opponents making him one of rugby\u2019s biggest characters \u2014 and one of its most divisive.<\/p>\n
What makes his story especially interesting is how he came through that period to become something of a TV darling in the UK.<\/p>\n
Through his punditry, podcasts and media appearances, Marler has shown a more thoughtful, self-aware and entertaining side, turning a reputation as rugby\u2019s ultimate wind-up merchant into a successful second act.<\/p>\n
3. Richie McCaw<\/p>\n
The greatest openside flanker of all-time was also one of the most hated.<\/p>\n
To New Zealand supporters, Richie McCaw was a hero.<\/p>\n
To everyone else, he was permanently offside.<\/p>\n
McCaw\u2019s ability to operate on the edge of the law, influence referees and somehow emerge with the ball drove opposition fans to distraction.<\/p>\n
The fact he was almost always on the winning side only made things worse.<\/p>\n
2. Johnny Sexton<\/p>\n
Johnny Sexton was never going to win many popularity contests outside Ireland.<\/p>\n
The former Ireland captain was fiercely competitive, regularly clashed with opponents and developed a reputation for being extremely vocal with referees.<\/p>\n
His confrontational personality made him an easy target for opposition supporters.<\/p>\n
But Sexton rarely cared. Winning was all that mattered.<\/p>\n
1. Owen Farrell<\/p>\n
There could only be one winner.<\/p>\n
Owen Farrell has spent much of his career as rugby\u2019s ultimate pantomime villain.<\/p>\n
His aggressive tackling, confrontational style and famous smirk have made him a target for opposition supporters across the world.<\/p>\n
Farrell has been booed, criticised and endlessly debated, yet remains hugely respected by teammates and coaches.<\/p>\n
Like all the best sporting villains, the hatred has often been a reflection of just how much opponents feared him.<\/p>\n
For years, rugby fans have loved to hate Owen Farrell \u2014 and that earns him top spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"6. Israel Folau Few rugby careers have ended in such controversial circumstances. Israel Folau was one of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-675365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}