Former England rugby star quit sport and became Hagrid in Harry Potter

 and worked as a stunt performer in other major productions.

Standing at a towering 6ft 10in, Bayfield won 31 caps for England between 1991 and 1996 and was part of the squad which reached the 1991 Rugby World Cup final.

The lock also represented the British & Irish Lions on their 1993 tour of New Zealand, while enjoying a successful club career with Northampton Saints.

However, his playing days came to a premature end in 1998 when a serious neck injury forced him to retire from rugby.

What followed was a remarkable career change.

Bayfield's extraordinary height helped him land work on the Harry Potter films, where he served as the body and stunt double for Rubeus Hagrid, the half-giant famously played by Robbie Coltrane.

The former England international was used when filmmakers needed to emphasise Hagrid's enormous size, with Bayfield appearing in costume for a number of scenes across the hugely successful franchise.

He also appeared as a young Hagrid in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

It wasn't Bayfield's only post-rugby career.

He initially joined the police following his retirement before establishing himself as a familiar face on television, working as a rugby presenter and pundit for ITV and other broadcasters.

Few players can boast a post-playing CV quite like his.

From England international and British & Irish Lion to police officer, television presenter and Hagrid's 6ft 10in body double,

Bayfield's career after rugby has been almost as remarkable as the one that came before it.

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As part of our build-up to the Rugby World Cup in Japan RUCK has found the six tallest rugby players EVER!

These guys are giants would be standing head and shoulders above all opponents if they were playing in 2022 Autumn Nations Cup and two might be.

The only British & Irish Lion to feature on this list, Gray has been one of the tallest locks in northern hemisphere rugby this decade after breaking through at Glasgow Warriors. After making his debut in 2008 for the Scotstoun outfit, Gray went on to become a key first-team regular during the 2010/11 season when he was named in the Celtic League (PRO12) Team of the Year in an otherwise fruitless season for Glasgow.

Moves to Sale Sharks, Castres and Toulouse have followed to see Gray feature on the international scene alongside his younger brother Jonny – who doesn’t quite measure up to his brother being 9cm shorter than his older sibling.

John Eales, Nathan Sharpe, Rob Simmons. Australia tend to encourage height as much as mobility when it comes to their second row, but the three players listed don’t quite reach the heights of Arnold despite topping over 200cm.

The Wales team-mate Shane Williams rarely liked standing next to. Charteris’ huge engine has seen his international career amass 74 Test caps since his debut in South Africa back in 2004. He's now playing for Bath in the Gallagher Premiership.

The 208 cm (6 ft 10in) tall Bayfield made his England debut in 1991, and would accumulate 34 caps along with three for the British & Irish Lions. Following his retirement, the lock dabbled in acting before becoming a well respected presenter on BT Sport and ITV.

The tallest player currently playing and one who Ireland coach Joe Schmidt relied on to ease the burden of Paul O’Connell’s retirement from international rugby. 6’10” Toner has been a consistent performer for Ireland and for Leinster over the span of his career..

The only player on this list to be 7’0″ or taller, Scotland’s Richie Metcalfe really was a giant of rugby and will be familiar to supporters of Newcastle Falcons and Northampton Saints.

The Leeds-born lock played 13 times for Scotland and is not only known for being rugby’s tallest player but also the player who was dropped to the replacements bench for Northampton’s victorious Heineken Cup final win in 2000.