List of Rugby World Cup hat-tricks explained

Since the inception of the Rugby World Cup in 1987, a total of 69 players have scored three tries or drop goals (a hat-trick) in a single match.^[1] The first player to achieve the feat was Craig Green, who scored four tries in New Zealand's 74–13 victory over Fiji during the 1987 Rugby World Cup. His teammate John Gallagher also scored four tries in this match.^[2] Besides Green and Gallagher, 15 players have scored more than three tries in a match; of these, Chris Latham and Josh Lewsey have scored five, while Marc Ellis scored six in New Zealand's 145–17 victory against Japan in 1995.^[3] Two of Ellis's teammates, Eric Rush and Jeff Wilson, also scored hat-tricks in this game.^[4] Five players have scored a hat-trick of drop goals: Jannie de Beer, Jonny Wilkinson, Juan Martín Hernández, Theuns Kotzé and George Ford. Of these, de Beer scored the most in one match, with five drop goals in South Africa's 44–21 victory over England in the 1999 Rugby World Cup.^[5]

Hat-tricks are more likely to occur in the pool stages, where higher ranked teams, such as New Zealand, who have scored fourteen World Cup hat-tricks, face lower ranked opposition, such as Namibia, who have conceded hat-tricks on ten occasions. There have only been seven hat-tricks in the World Cup knockout stages: Chester Williams and Jonah Lomu in 1995,^[6] ^[7] de Beer in 1999, Wilkinson in 2003,^[8] Julian Savea and Adam Ashley-Cooper in 2015^[9] ^[10] and Will Jordan in 2023.

Six players have scored two World Cup hat-tricks, Savea being the only one to have scored both in the same tournament. Of the six teams in the Six Nations and four in the Rugby Championship teams, only Italy have failed to score a hat-trick at the World Cup. Fiji, Namibia and Samoa are the only other teams to score a hat-trick, which were scored by Vereniki Goneva, Kotze and Alesana Tuilagi, respectively. Goneva and Kotze's hat-tricks are the only time players on opposing teams have accomplished this feat in the same match at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.^[11]

Hat-tricks

Unless noted otherwise, the players listed below scored a hat-trick of tries.

Key
^D3	Player scored hat-trick of drop goals
^D5	Player scored five drop goals
^T4	Player scored four tries
^T5	Player scored five tries
^T6	Player scored six tries

No. !scope=col
Player	scope=col	Year	scope=col	For	scope=col	Against	scope=col	Stage	scope=col	Result	scope=col	Venue	scope=col	Date
1	scope=row	^T4	1987
2	scope=row	^T4
3	scope=row
4	scope=row
5	scope=row
6	scope=row
7	scope=row
8	scope=row	^T4
9	scope=row
10	scope=row	^T4	1991
11	scope=row
12	scope=row
13	scope=row
14	scope=row	^T4	1995
15	scope=row
16	scope=row	^T6					145–17
17	scope=row						145–17
18	scope=row						145–17
19	scope=row	^T4
20	scope=row	^T4
21	scope=row	^T4	1999
22	scope=row
23	scope=row
24	scope=row						101–3
25	scope=row style="background-color:#FBCEB1"	^D5				Quarter-final		Stade de France, Saint-Denis
26	scope=row		2003
27	scope=row
28	scope=row
29	scope=row	^T4
30	scope=row
31	scope=row						142–0
32	scope=row	^T5					142–0
33	scope=row						142–0
34	scope=row
35	scope=row	^T5					111–13
36	scope=row style="background-color:#FBCEB1"	^D3				Semi-final		Telstra Stadium, Sydney
37	scope=row		2007
38	scope=row
39	scope=row	^T4
40	scope=row
41	scope=row
42	scope=row
43	scope=row
44	scope=row style="background-color:#FBCEB1"	^D3				Pool		Parc des Princes, Paris
45	scope=row style="background-color:#FBCEB1"	^D3	2011
46	scope=row	^T4
47	scope=row
48	scope=row
49	scope=row
50	scope=row
51	scope=row
52	scope=row
53	scope=row	^T4
54	scope=row		2015
55	scope=row
56	scope=row
57	scope=row
58	scope=row
59	scope=row
60	scope=row					Quarter-final
61	scope=row
62	scope=row		2019
63	scope=row
64	scope=row					Pool		Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe
65	scope=row
66	scope=row
67	scope=row style="background-color:#FBCEB1"	^D3	2023
68	scope=row					Pool		Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux	17 September 2023
69	scope=row					Pool			17 September 2023
70	scope=row					Pool		Stade Vélodrome, Marseille	21 September 2023
71	scope=row	^T5				Pool		Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille	23 September 2023
72	scope=row					Pool		Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Décines-Charpieu	29 September 2023
73	scope=row	^T4				Pool		Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille	30 September 2023
74	scope=row					Pool		Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Décines-Charpieu	5 October 2023
75	scope=row					Pool		Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes	7 October 2023
76	scope=row					Pool		Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes	8 October 2023
77	scope=row					Semi-final		Stade de France, Saint-Denis	20 October 2023

Multiple hat-tricks

Player	Hat-tricks	Years
Jeff Wilson	2	1995, 1999
Vincent Clerc		2007, 2011
Bryan Habana		2007, 2015
Julian Savea		2015
Adam Ashley-Cooper		2011, 2015
Cobus Reinach		2019, 2023

By national team

Team	Scored	Conceded
scope=row		17	0
scope=row		9	0
	9	0
scope=row		9	2
scope=row		9	2
scope=row		7	0
scope=row		6	0
scope=row		4	3
scope=row		3	1
scope=row		1	3
scope=row		1	7
scope=row		1	7
scope=row		1	10
scope=row		0	1
scope=row		0	1
scope=row		0	2
scope=row		0	2
scope=row		0	3
scope=row		0	3
scope=row		0	4
scope=row		0	5
scope=row		0	5
scope=row		0	6
scope=row		0	10

References

General

Web site: Statsguru / Test matches / Player records / Rugby World Cup / Tries scored: greater than or equal to 3. ESPN Scrum. 8 September 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120402011009/http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/stats/index.html?class=1%3Bfilter%3Dadvanced%3Borderby%3Ddate%3Btemplate%3Dresults%3Btriesmin1%3D3%3Btriesval1%3Dtries%3Btrophy%3D17%3Btype%3Dplayer%3Bview%3Dmatch. 2 April 2012.
Web site: Most drop goals – Rugby World Cup . ESPN Scrum . 15 November 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150928233825/http://stats.espnscrum.com/scrum/rugby/records/player/most_drop_goals_match.html?id=17%3Btype%3Dtrophy . 28 September 2015 .

Specific

Notes and References

News: Fiji 49–25 Namibia . BBC Sport . 10 September 2011 . 9 November 2015 .
Web site: New Zealand 74–13 Fiji . World Rugby . 9 November 2015 .
News: New Zealand will give Namibia 'total respect', says All Blacks head coach . The Daily Telegraph . 23 September 2015 . 9 November 2015 . Daniel . Schofield .
Web site: Japan 17–145 New Zealand . World Rugby . 9 November 2015 .
News: South Africa 44–21 England . The Guardian . 25 October 1999 . 15 November 2015 . Robert . Kitson .
News: Chester Williams on his 'almost impossible dream' to become a Springbok . ESPN . 25 September 2015 . 9 November 2015 . Tom . Hamilton .
News: New Zealand 45–29 England . BBC Sport . 24 September 2003 . 9 November 2015 .
News: England into World Cup final . BBC Sport . 16 November 2003 . 15 November 2015 .
News: Records tumble in All Blacks' Rugby World Cup quarterfinal win over France in Cardiff . Stuff NZ . 18 October 2015 . 9 November 2015 . Joseph . Pearson .
News: Australia's Adam Ashley-Cooper sees off Argentina with hat-trick . The Guardian . 25 October 2015 . 9 November 2015 . Robert . Kitson .
News: Samoa 49–12 Namibia . BBC Sport . 14 September 2011 . 9 November 2015 . Ben . Dirs .