The five most hated Rugby players in the world

He stood by his controversial comments on homosexuality and revealed he offered to walk away from his Rugby Australia contract if his position was deemed to be untenable.

The Australia and Waratahs full-back avoided punishment for saying homosexuals should go to “hell”unless they “repent their sins and turn to God”.

This sort of backwards thinking doesn't belong in rugby!

Described on reddit by fans as 'absolute trash'. His reputation never recovered after he deliberately broke Rob Hawkins arm with lots of fans wanting him to be banned for life.

Pape decided to dedicate a portion of Stade's clash with Edinburgh to his unending pursuit of shithousery.

You may remember that it was Pape who also thrust his knee into Jamie Heaslip's back,  leaving the Irish No. 8 with fractured vertebrae.

Well, his next defining moment was when Edinburgh's wonderfully-named Phil Burleigh was sent-off for slapping Pape in the face. While childish, it wasn't exactly forceful. Nonetheless, poor Pascal felt its brute force, and threw himself to the ground.

- Stamping on players heads

- Gouging another player

-Faking injuries

- Generally being an absolute shithouse

The cocksure fly-half is never short of an opinion or two, and his spat with New Zealand captain Richie McCaw in 2011 meant he went down even further in many people's estimation.

Cooper shoved his knee into a prone McCaw's face during a heated Tri-Nations match, and the incident played into the perception of Cooper as a sly, nasty piece of work.

He's also openly critcised his country's coaching staff and last month launched a tirade on Twitter against a supporter who had criticised his performance during the Wallabies’ victory over Argentina in the Rugby Championship. Cooper, who had been sin-binned in the match charmingly wrote "Invite me to you're next team discussion then ask me how much I give a f--- about your team selection? Zero f---s given.”