Since the inception of the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

in 1987, a total of 57 players have scored three tries or

drop goal A drop goal, field goal, or dropped goal is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league and also, rarely, in American football and Canadian football. A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball (dropping the ball and then kicki ...

s (a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

) in a single match. The first player to achieve the feat was Craig Green, who scored four tries in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

's 74–13 victory over Fiji during the 1987 Rugby World Cup. His teammate John Gallagher also scored four tries in this match. Besides Green and Gallagher, 14 players have scored more than three tries in a match; of these, Chris Latham and

Josh Lewsey Owen Joshua Lewsey MBE (born 30 November 1976) is an English former rugby union player who represented England and the British and Irish Lions. Lewsey is a former British Army Officer. Background and early life Lewsey was born in Bromley, L ...

have scored five, while Marc Ellis scored six in New Zealand's 145–17 victory against Japan in 1995. Two of Ellis's teammates,

Eric Rush Eric James Rush (born 11 February 1965 in Kaeo) is a New Zealand former rugby union footballer and rugby sevens legend, and now a supermarket owner. His New Zealand Sevens career began in 1988 and ran until past his 39th birthday in 2004. Ru ...

and Jeff Wilson, also scored hat-tricks in this game. Four players have scored a hat-trick of drop goals:

Jannie De Beer Jan Hendrik de Beer (born 22 April 1971) is a South African former rugby union player. He played flyhalf for the South African national team, the Springboks. In all he represented the Springboks in 13 tests, scoring 181 points. He was principa ...

Jonny Wilkinson Jonathan Peter Wilkinson, CBE (born 25 May 1979) is an English former rugby union player. A fly-half, he played for Newcastle Falcons and Toulon and represented England and the British & Irish Lions. He is particularly known for scoring the w ...

, Juan Martín Hernández and Theuns Kotzé. Of these, De Beer scored the most in one match, with five drop goals in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

's 44–21 victory over

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the 1999 Rugby World Cup. 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 Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, who have conceded hat-tricks on nine occasions. There have only been six hat-tricks in the World Cup knockout stages:

Chester Williams Chester Mornay Williams (8 August 1970 – 6 September 2019) was a South African rugby union player. He played as a winger for the South Africa national rugby union team (Springboks) from 1993 to 2000, most notably for the team that won the ...

and

Jonah Lomu Jonah Tali Lomu (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. Lomu is considered to have been the first true global superstar of rugby, and consequently had a huge impact on the game. He is widely regarde ...

in 1995, De Beer in 1999, Wilkinson in 2003, and

Julian Savea Sio Julian Savea (born 7 August 1990) is a New Zealand rugby union player. He currently plays wing for in Super Rugby Aotearoa. Savea formerly played for in the Top 14, and is a former captain of the Wellington Lions in the Mitre 10 Cup. Be ...

and Adam Ashley-Cooper in 2015. Five 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 Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

have failed to score a hat-trick at the World Cup. Fiji, Namibia and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

are the only other teams to score a hat-trick, which were scored by

Vereniki Goneva Vereniki Goneva (born 5 April 1984) is a Fijian rugby union footballer who plays for Mont-de-Marsan in France's Pro D2, the second division. He plays as a centre or wing. Goneva made his debut in English rugby for Rotherham against Northamp ...

, 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.

Hat-tricks

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

Multiple hat-tricks

By national team

References

General * * Specific {{Featured list World Cup Hat-trick

HAt A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

Hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

Rugby world ''Rugby World'' is a monthly rugby union magazine running since October 1960. It is published monthly by Future plc and edited by Owain Jones who took over from long-standing editor Paul Morgan in January 2012. Paul Morgan was long considered ...