In terms of skills it depends what position they are moving from and to, but I think a season of training with a pro side and some regional amateur rugby games in the lower leagues followed by 1-2 seasons playing below the top flight would be required, if they had the right attributes to reach the top flight. It could be 2 years in total for a winger, or 4 for a more involved position with higher technical and tactical requirements. A player with exceptional physical attributes like being able to run a sub-11 second 100m at 275lbs and a lethal side-step or being fit at 300lbs and immensely strong and Flair 92 Savage Ugly Christmas Sweater explosive might make it earlier as their attacking threat with the ball in hand would do more to cancel out their shortcomings than a more physcially average player.
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NFL players are unlikely to make the switch the other way, although New England Patriots special team player Nate Ebner has played in the Olympics for the USA Rugby Union Sevens team (7 aside rugby is a simpler and faster game compared to the full 15 man version of Union), Nate actually grew up playing rugby at age group level for the USA too, and only took up American Football later. The simple reason the switch is less likely to occur from pro to pro is that wages are far higher in the NFL. Rugby Union is the bigger and richer of the 2 codes, but has only been a Underberg Print Fun Ugly Christmas Sweater sport since 1995. Rugby tends to have smaller teams in terms of catchment area. There are 33 teams in the top flights of British and French Rugby Union compared to 32 in the NFL.
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