Five players with most tries at the Rugby World Cup

A try is the most exciting way to score points in a Rugby Union clash. Its importance is evident from the fact that they are worth five points, which is the maximum number of points you can score in one go in Rugby Union.

The World Cup is the crown jewel of all the Rugby tournaments. It comes every four years and witnesses the best players on the planet grind it out for the Webb Ellis Trophy. 

Tries are the most effective way to change the course of the match. A trailing nation can easily overcome the deficit and win it if they score a couple of tries.

We take a look at five players who have scored the most number of tries in this prestigious tournament:

Jonah Lomu

Arguably the greatest rugby player ever.

Jonah Lomu gave us one of the most iconic images of Rugby World Cup as he scored the first of his four tries against a helpless England in the semi-finals of 1995 edition of the tournament. 

The then 20-year old swatted Tony Underwood and trampled over Mike Catt while he was unbalanced to score the try. Teammates, opposition and experts alike were awestruck by the audacity of it and realized that they are witnessing greatness.

All in all, the New Zealander scored 15 tries in the two World Cups that he took part in. Lomu revolutionized the game forever. He had pace to burn to go with his massive frame. Until his retirement, Lomu was rugby union's biggest drawcard and its first true global superstar.

Bryan Habana

Named after the famous Manchester United player, Bryan Robson, Habana scored with his first touch on his debut and hardly stopped since. 

This 2007 World Cup winner scored 15 tries in the World Cup and is on top of the pile alongside Jonah Lomu.

The Johannesburg born lad also holds the record for scoring the most tries in a single edition and helped the Springboks to their second World title in 2007.

Habana is also second in the list of all time test try scorers with a total of 67 tries behind only Daisuke Ohata.

Drew Mitchell

Mitchell played in three World Cups and has scored 14 tries in them. The New South Wales born winger scored seven in the 2007 edition of the tournament but couldn’t help the Wallabies lift the trophy.

The winger couldn’t play a huge part in the next edition due to injuries but still managed to score three tries. 

In the 2015 edition, he managed to score four tries to go third in the list of people with the most tries in the tournament.

If only he was fit and firing in his second World Cup, he would have surely broken the all-time record.

Doug Howlett

Howlett is seventh highest try scorer in Rugby Union history and first on the all-time highest try scorers' list for the All Blacks.

This scoring machine had a tremendous record at the World Cups too. He scored a total of 13 tries and is ranked fourth in the illustrious list.

The pacy winger averaged four points per game and was a dual hemisphere hero with his achievements at Munster Rugby.

Adam Ashley-Cooper

The second New South Wales winger on the list, Cooper was nicknamed "Mr Versatile", for his ability to play  play centre, wing, or fullback according to his team needs.

But, Cooper was devastating at the wing. For the Wallabies, he scored 12 tries at the World Cup. He scored a hat-trick against Argentina in the semi-finals of the 2015 Rugby World Cup to propel Australia to the final where they lost to a superior All Blacks team.
Cover image credits: Straits Times