{"id":22699,"date":"2026-01-21T12:58:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T10:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/wallabies-sign-league-international-crichton-for-2027\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:33:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:33:37","slug":"wallabies-sign-league-international-crichton-for-2027","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/wallabies-sign-league-international-crichton-for-2027\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallabies sign league international Crichton for 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Rugby league international forward Angus Crichton will switch to rugby union next year in a bid to make the Wallabies team for the 2027 World Cup on home soil, Rugby Australia announced this Wednesday.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A mobile but powerful edge forward, Crichton has been a key player for the Sydney Roosters, New South Wales Blues and Kangaroos for the last few years.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The 29-year-old is likely to be positioned in the back row or at inside centre in the 15-man game, which he played at international level as a schoolboy.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;It&#8217;s incredibly exciting to be returning to the sport I played throughout my childhood,&#8221; Crichton said in a news release.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;I grew up with a Wallabies jersey and poster on the wall and my dream was to one day represent them. I&#8217;m in a position in 2027 to pursue that dream.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Crichton will make the move to union next year in the company of Roosters clubmate Mark Nawaqanitawase, a former Wallabies winger who was a standout in the National Rugby League with 24 tries in his first full season last year.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Another former Rooster, centre Joseph Suaali&#8217;i, moved to union just over a year ago, while Wallabies outside back Andrew Kellaway was Crichton&#8217;s teammate at Sydney&#8217;s powerhouse rugby school The Scots College.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Crichton is a relative rarity as a forward leaving the NRL for rugby union with most of the previous high-profile recruits having been backs.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Sonny Bill Williams, also an edge forward in the NRL, won two World Cups in the centres with the All Blacks, but Sam Burgess failed to make a huge impact for England after switching for the 2015 World Cup.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;He&#8217;s the ultimate professional who will bring a high level of physicality and edge to the group,&#8221; said Dan McKellar, who will coach Crichton in Super Rugby at the New South Wales Waratahs.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;With his rugby union background, I&#8217;m sure he&#8217;ll be able to adapt quickly and will be raring to go when he arrives.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14928,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-22699","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Crichton is a relative rarity as a forward leaving the NRL for rugby union.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Crichton is a relative rarity as a forward leaving the NRL for rugby union.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25910,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22699\/revisions\/25910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=22699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}