Premiership rugby union club Sale Sharks will sign Josh Charnley from rugby league side Wigan Warriors at the end of the Super League season.

Charnley, 24, has helped Wigan win a Super League Grand Final and two Challenge Cups since joining in 2010.

“Josh is a great signing. Everyone I have spoken to rates him very highly,” said director of rugby Steve Diamond.
Josh Charnley

Charnley, who has played seven times for England, scored a hat-trick in his most recent appearance for Warriors – Monday’s 30-16 win over Hull KR.

He has scored 148 tries and kicked 94 goals in 152 games for last season’s Super League grand finalists.

Diamond added: “He has explosive pace and can play either full-back or on the wing. The last big signing we made from Wigan, back in 2000, was Jason Robinson and what an impact he had.”

Wigan tried to keep Charnley by offering new deals, Warriors chairman Ian Lenagan said.

“We offered Josh a new long-term contract that would put him up there with the biggest earners at the club,” he added.

“But having won so much at Wigan, he feels that the time is right to take on a new challenge.”