International Rugby Players Men's Try of the Year

The IRP Men's Try of the Year is an accolade awarded annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards.^[1] The International Rugby Players (IRP) – formerly International Rugby Players Association – select the nominees from which the winner is decided by a public vote.^[2] As of 2017^[update], the IRPA selection panel comprises Isaac Boss (representing Rugby Players Ireland), Andries Pretorius (Welsh Rugby Players Association), Hale T-Pole (Pacific Players Association) and Stefan Terblanche (South African Rugby Players Association).^[3]

IRP Men's Try of the Year
Awarded for	Best Try of the Year
Date	2007; 18 years ago (2007)
Presented by	World Rugby
First award	2007
Currently held by	Nolann Le Garrec (2024)
Website	World Rugby Awards

The inaugural winner of the IRPA Try of the Year trophy in 2007 was the Zimbabwean-born United States wing Takudzwa Ngwenya.^[4] His try, considered by the Bleacher Report as one of the greatest in history, completed a counter-attack for the United States against South Africa (also known as the Springboks) in the group stage of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.^[5] Receiving the ball on the halfway line, Ngwenya outpaced Bryan Habana, then considered to be the fastest player in international rugby, to score.^[6][7] Brian O'Driscoll received the award in 2008 for Ireland's team try scored during their 18–12 defeat against Australia. Starting from a lineout inside their own 22, Ireland caught their own kick as they moved up to the halfway line. An exchange of passes culminated with O'Driscoll receiving the ball 9 metres (10 yd) out before scoring.^[8] The 2009 award went to South Africa's Jaque Fourie who scored the decisive try in a game described as "one of the great matches of all time" against the British and Irish Lions.^[9] Fourie's try in the 74th minute levelled the scores with Morné Steyn kicking a penalty with the final act of the match to take the win for South Africa.^[10]

England's Chris Ashton won the IRPA Try of the Year award in 2010. Having already scored against Australia in the first half, Ashton ran 90 metres (98 yd) to score his second, completed with a "swan dive" as he crossed the tryline in what has been described as "one of the great Twickenham scores".^[11] The press dubbed the celebratory dive the "Ash-Splash".^[12][13] The 2011 award was presented to Australia's Radike Samo for his 60 metres (66 yd) solo effort against New Zealand (also known as the All Blacks), described by The Sydney Morning Herald as "one of the great forward tries".^[14] Bryan Habana became the second South African to win the award for his try against the All Blacks in 2012. Running between two defending players and chipping the ball over a third, Habana slid in to score in the Springboks' 21–11 defeat in the 2012 Rugby Championship.^[15] The 2013 recipient of the award was New Zealand's Beauden Barrett who finished off an All Black move against France which had started just outside their own tryline.^[16]

Francois Hougaard's try for South Africa against New Zealand earned him the 2014 IRPA Try of the Year award. He completed a move after eight passes which had started on the Springbok tryline, and helped consign the All Blacks to their first defeat in almost two years.^[17] All Black Julian Savea won the award in 2015 with one of three tries he scored in New Zealand's comprehensive 62–13 defeat over France in the 2015 Rugby World Cup.^[18] Robert Kitson of The Observer described the award-winning try as a "stunner that took him past and through [Louis] Picamoles, Brice Dulin and Rabah Slimani in a manner reminiscent of Lomu's flattening of Mike Catt in Cape Town in 1995".^[19] The winner of the 2016 award was Ireland's Jamie Heaslip who finished off a team move which started inside their own 22 against Italy during the 2016 Six Nations Championship.^[20] The 2017 IRPA Try of the Year was awarded to Argentina's Joaquín Tuculet for his try, completing a team effort which started deep inside his half, against England in San Juan.^[21]

Winners

Winners of the IRP Try of the Year

Year	Image	Player	Team	Match	Video	Ref
2007		Takudzwa Ngwenya	United States	United States vs South Africa	Video Archived 18 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine	[22]
2008		Brian O'Driscoll	Ireland	Australia vs Ireland	Video Archived 30 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine	[23]
2009		Jaque Fourie	South Africa	South Africa vs British and Irish Lions	Video Archived 14 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine	[24]
2010		Chris Ashton	England	England vs Australia	Video Archived 16 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine	[25]
2011		Radike Samo	Australia	Australia vs New Zealand	Video Archived 16 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine	[26]
2012		Bryan Habana	South Africa	South Africa vs New Zealand	Video Archived 26 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine	[27]
2013		Beauden Barrett	New Zealand	New Zealand vs France	Video Archived 2 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine	[28]
2014	–	Francois Hougaard	South Africa	South Africa vs New Zealand	Video Archived 1 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine	[29]
2015		Julian Savea	New Zealand	New Zealand vs France	Video Archived 22 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine	[30]
2016		Jamie Heaslip	Ireland	Ireland vs Italy	Video Archived 31 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine	[31]
2017		Joaquín Tuculet	Argentina	Argentina vs England	Video Archived 6 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine	[32]
2018		Brodie Retallick	New Zealand	Australia vs New Zealand	Video Archived 15 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine	[33]
2019		TJ Perenara	New Zealand	New Zealand vs Namibia	Video Archived 4 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine	[34]
2021		Damian Penaud	France	France vs Scotland	Video Archived 10 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine	[35]
2022		Rodrigo Fernández	Chile	Chile v USA	Video Archived 29 October 2023 at the Wayback Machine	[36]
2023		Duhan van der Merwe	Scotland	Scotland v England	Video Archived 29 October 2023 at the Wayback Machine	[37]
2024		Nolann Le Garrec	France	France vs England	Video	[38]

References

1. "World Rugby Awards". World Rugby. Archived from the original on 14 June 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
2. "World Rugby Awards Voting Criteria 2017" (PDF). World Rugby. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
3. "Voting panel". World Rugby. Archived from the original on 14 June 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
4. "Fourie wins Try of the Year award". IOL. SAPA. 7 March 2010. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
5. Cheshire, Jeff (11 January 2013). "Rugby: 25 Greatest International Tries of All Time". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
6. Rees, Paul (1 October 2007). "Ngwenya the flying Eagle makes Habana look leaden-footed". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 October 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
7. Standley, James (30 September 2007). "South Africa 64–15 USA". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
8. "Brian O'Driscoll wins Try of the Year 2008". YouTube. 14 November 2014. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
9. Ackford, Paul (27 June 2009). "South Africa 28 British and Irish Lions 25: match report". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
10. Palmer, Bryn (27 June 2009). "South Africa 28–25 Lions". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 12 January 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
11. "Ashton shows off 'swan' dive v Australia". BBC Sport. 1 November 2013. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
12. Jones, Stephen; Cain, Nick (6 November 2014). Behind the Rose: Playing Rugby for England. Arena Sport. p. 347. ISBN 978-1-909715-19-6. Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
13. Kitson, Robert (15 November 2012). "England's Chris Ashton aims to splash down again after barren spell". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
14. Lutton, Phil (28 August 2011). "Wallabies veteran comes of age". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
15. "Bryan Habana's effort for South Africa against New Zealand in Rugby Championship named try of the year". The Daily Telegraph. AP. 29 November 2012. Archived from the original on 1 December 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
16. "Beauden Barrett takes top award for French try". Stuff.co.nz. 20 February 2014. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
17. "Patrick Lambie scores late penalty as South Africa beat New Zealand". The Guardian. 4 October 2014. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
18. "Nine-try New Zealand blow away France to cruise into semi-finals". rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
19. Kitson, Robert (17 October 2015). "New Zealand's Julian Savea scores hat-trick in nine-try rout of Franc". The Observer. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
20. "Ireland's Jamie Heaslip receives Try of the Year award". The Irish Times. 14 November 2016. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
21. McVeigh, Niall (10 June 2017). "Argentina 34-38 England: first Test – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
22. "Habana wins player of year award". BBC Sport. 22 October 2007. Archived from the original on 24 October 2007. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
23. Wildman, Rob (24 November 2008). "Shane Williams hails 'incredible' year as Welsh winger awarded IRB player of the year". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
24. "Fourie wins Try of the Year Award". Irish Times. 7 March 2010. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
25. "Ashton wins Try of the Year award". ESPN. 31 January 2011. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
26. Shute, Richard (28 October 2015). "Rugby World Cup 2015: Wallabies snubbed in IRPA Try of the Year nominations". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 1 December 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
27. "Habana scoops Try of the Year award". ESPN. 29 November 2012. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
28. "Beauden Barrett given Try of the Year award". ESPN. 20 February 2014. Archived from the original on 2 November 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
29. "World Rugby: Francois Hougaard wins IRPA Try of the Year for 2014". Sky Sports. 30 November 2014. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
30. "New Zealand drop Julian Savea and recall Israel Dagg for Wales second Test". Sky Sports. 16 June 2016. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
31. "World Rugby Awards: All Blacks, Steve Hansen, Beauden Barrett win top awards again". The New Zealand Herald. 14 November 2016. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
32. Strang, Ben (27 November 2017). "Live: Beauden Barrett wins player of the year again at 2017 World Rugby Awards". Stuff.co.nz. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
33. "All Blacks: Brodie Retallick wins Try of the Year at World Rugby awards". Newshub. 26 November 2018. Archived from the original on 6 September 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
34. "Perenara wins Try of the Year". International Rugby Players. 3 November 2019. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
35. "France's Penaud wins International Rugby Players Men's Try of the Year award". Six Nations Rugby. 6 December 2021. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
36. "Josh van der Flier and Ruahei Demant named World Rugby Players of the Year 2022". www.world.rugby. 20 November 2022. Archived from the original on 21 November 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
37. "Ardie Savea named World Rugby Men's Player of the Year 2023". www.world.rugby. 30 October 2023. Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
38. "Ellie Kildunne, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Maddison Levi and Antoine Dupont named World Rugby Players of the Year". World Rugby. 24 November 2024. Retrieved 25 November 2024.

External links

• World Rugby Awards official website Archived 2 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine
• World Rugby Awards past winners Archived 9 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine