Top rugby world cup try scorers ever
World cups are generally seen as the pinnacle of any rugby player’s career.
The opportunity to perform on the highest stage with the greatest players on earth.
We take a detailed look at those who really set that stage alight, with the highest try scorers in the history of the competition.
David Campese – 10
Over a century of caps for Australia, David Campese was an electric back-three player.
Known for his trademark goose-step, there were very few players in the history of the game that could bring a crowd to their feet like Campese.
He appeared in 3 world cups, winning it in 1991, and in doing so was named the Player of the Tournament.
Shane Williams – 10
Despite being told he was too small to play rugby, this little Welshman became one of the greatest wingers ever to play the game.
Wales’s all-time top try scorer was a man for the big stage. Scoring some of the most important tries for his national side with brilliant footwork and an eager eye for the try line.
It was his incredible breakthrough performance against the All Blacks in the 2003 world cup that shot Shane Williams’ career into the spotlight. From then on he was simply unplayable, appearing in two more world cups and cementing himself as an all-time great.
Brian Lima – 10
The only Samoan on this list, Brian Lima was the first player to appear in five world cups.
Known as ‘The Chiropractor’ due to his thunderous hits, the outside back was a tough man to stop and an even tougher man to get past.
A 17-year international career saw him take part in the early 1991 world cup and every competition after, before finally hanging up his boots in 2007.
Chris Latham – 11
A four-time winner of the Australian Super Rugby Player of the Year award, Chris Latham was an electric back-three player with a record of one try in every two games.
Latham was once described by The Times journalist, Stephen Jones, as the finest fullback he had ever seen.
Rory Underwood – 11
England’s record try scorer, Rory Underwood appeared in the first ever three world cups. With 85 international caps to his name, he once held the record for the most appearances by any player in the white of England.
Having hung up his rugby boots in 1997, Underwood missed out on playing in the professional era. Due to this amateurism of the game at the time, he was employed as a Royal Air Force pilot.
Thought by many to be the greatest English winger of all time, he had the best strike ratio of any English player over 40 caps.
Joe Rokocoko – 11
A magical player to watch, Joe Rokocoko was seen as New Zealand’s progression from Jonah Lomu.
He may have played in only two world cups, but the lightning speed and sublime footwork this Fijian-born winger had, ensured that he would be remembered as one of the true greats.
Named the IRB Young Player of the Year in 2003, Rokocoko went on to score 46 tries in just a seven-year international career.
Vincent Clerc – 11
Vincent Clerc was a prolific try scorer for Toulouse and France, scoring a try every other game for his national side. Despite appearing in just two world cups, Clerc has amassed a rather impressive 11 tries in the competition.
Touted as one of the most clinical finishers of his generation, he posed a threat like so few others could.
During the 2011 world cup Clerc was a stand-out player. Having scored 6 tries in total, Clerc finished top of the try-scoring charts alongside England’s Chris Ashton.
Adam Ashley-Cooper – 12
One of the most highly internationally capped players of all time, Adam Ashley-Cooper was a mainstay in the Australian squad for fourteen years.
The stand-out winger appeared in his final world cup in 2019 at the age of 35. He was a bit-part player in this tournament, playing his last game in the group stages against Wales.
Prior to this, he was a main event in the previous two world cups, even scoring a hattrick in the semi-final of the 2015 competition against Argentina and earning himself the player of the match award.
Doug Howlett – 13
Doug Howlett was known to be one of the fastest players in the game, rumoured to have once clocked 10.68 in the 100 metres. It was this speed and incredibly high work rate that allowed him to score 49 tries for the All Blacks in just 63 tests.
It was his stand-out performances on the big stage that see him sit so high on the world cup try-scoring charts. Howlett competed with the likes of Joe Rokocoko and Sitiveni Sivivatu for an All Blacks shirt, so to achieve so many tries alongside stiff competition is something to be truly marvelled at.
Drew Mitchell – 14
A stuttering start to his international career saw Drew Mitchell sidelined from the Wallabies for two years between 2005-2007. During this time he improved massively and was selected for the 2007 world cup. 7 tries later and Mitchell was one of the stars of the tournament.
Despite numerous career-threatening injuries to follow, Mitchell appeared in two more world cups that brought his world cup try tally up to 14.
Bryan Habana – 15
The man raced a Cheetah. He was quick. Bryan Habana could sprint 40 metres in just 4.58 seconds, making him one of the fastest to have ever played the game.
During the 2007 world cup, he scored a record-equalling 8 tries in total as part of the winning South African side.
Just four years later Habana went on to score 7 tries over in New Zealand, putting him top of the all-time world cup try-scoring charts, level with the late great Jonah Lomu.
Jonah Lomu – 15
The man needs no introduction. The face of rugby union in the 90’s, Jonah Lomu was plastered all over every rugby-based TV show, every poster, and even had his own video game named after him.
Probably the most destructive winger there has ever been, he was as big as a lock but as fast as any winger out there. Lomu changed the game and it seems remarkable that the All Blacks never won a world cup with him in their side.
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments