Tributes have been paid to a true Rugby League great.

Huddersfield Giants led the way, expressing their sadness over the death of former player Mick Sullivan at the age of 82.

RFL chief executive Nigel Wood added: “Mick Sullivan was one of the greatest Rugby League players to ever play the game.

“A World Cup winner at just twenty years old, Great Britain’s record try scorer and joint most capped player, he was a legend of the game and was rightly inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2013.

“The RFL would like to offer their sincere condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time.”

Born in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, Sullivan played for the Shaw Cross Boys’ Club in Dewsbury before beginning his professional career with Huddersfield, making his debut against Dewsbury in a 21-6 victory on May 29 1952, where he scored two tries.

Sullivan went on to make 117 appearances for Huddersfield and scored 93 tries.

His final game was against York on October 19, 1957.

Winger Sullivan became a World Cup winner at the age of 20, in 1954, and went on to set the record for the most Great Britain Test caps with 46.

It was a record later equalled by Garry Schofield.

Sullivan then went on to win his second World Cup in 1960 and is the only British player to have won the competition twice.

In all, he scored 120 tries in 102 representative games for Great Britain, England and Yorkshire and is one of only 25 members to be inducted into the prestigious Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2013.

Sullivan went to school in Pudsey before moving to Dewsbury Technical School, where he became head boy.

He was a talented swimmer and athlete as well as a rugby player and represented Bramley Harriers before switching to Rugby League with Shaw Cross Boys Club in Dewsbury.

Despite his success on the national and international stage, Sullivan still held down a job as a plumber.

He had a brief spell coaching in New South Wales, Australia, in the mid 1960s before returning to West Yorkshire and a job as a warder at Wakefield jail.

His wife Jean died some years ago and he is survived by their daughter and two sons