List of Rugby World Cup hat-tricks


Since the inception of the Rugby World Cup in 1987, a total of 57 players have scored three tries or drop goals in a single match. 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. Besides Green and Gallagher, fourteen 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. Two of Ellis's teammates, Eric Rush and Jeff Wilson, also scored hat-tricks in this game. Four players have scored a hat-trick of drop goals: Jannie De Beer, Jonny Wilkinson, Juan Martín Hernández and Theuns Kotzé. 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.
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 nine occasions. There have only been six hat-tricks in the World Cup knockout stages: Chester Williams and Jonah Lomu in 1995, De Beer in 1999, Wilkinson in 2003, and Julian Savea and Adam Ashley-Cooper in 2015.
Five players have scored two World Cup hat-tricks, Savea being the only one to have scored all of them 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.

Hat-tricks

Unless noted otherwise, the players listed below scored a hat-trick of tries.
No.PlayerForAgainstStageResultVenueDate
1T4PoolLancaster Park, Christchurch27 5 1987
2T4PoolLancaster Park, Christchurch27 5 1987
3PoolFMG Stadium, Palmerston North29 5 1987
4PoolConcord Oval, Sydney30 5 1987
5PoolCarisbrook, Dunedin2 6 1987
6PoolEden Park, Auckland2 6 1987
7PoolEden Park, Auckland2 6 1987
8T4PoolRugby Park Stadium, Invercargill3 6 1987
9PoolBallymore Stadium, Brisbane3 6 1987
10T4PoolLansdowne Road, Dublin6 10 1991
11PoolKingsholm, Gloucester8 10 1991
12PoolStade Lesdiguières, Grenoble8 10 1991
13PoolMurrayfield, Edinburgh9 10 1991
14T4PoolOlympia Park, Rustenburg26 5 1995
15PoolFree State Stadium, Bloemfontein27 5 1995
16T6Pool145–17Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein4 6 1995
17Pool145–17Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein4 6 1995
18Pool145–17Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein4 6 1995
19T4Quarter-finalEllis Park, Johannesburg10 6 1995
20T4Semi-finalNewlands, Cape Town18 6 1995
21T4PoolLansdowne Road, Dublin2 10 1999
22PoolRavenhill, Belfast3 10 1999
23PoolStade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux8 10 1999
24Pool101–3Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield14 10 1999
25D5Quarter-finalStade de France, Saint-Denis24 10 1999
26PoolLang Park, Brisbane11 10 2003
27PoolSubiaco Oval, Perth11 10 2003
28PoolCentral Coast Stadium, Gosford14 10 2003
29T4PoolDocklands Stadium, Melbourne17 10 2003
30PoolLang Park, Brisbane18 10 2003
31Pool142–0Adelaide Oval25 10 2003
32T5Pool142–0Adelaide Oval25 10 2003
33Pool142–0Adelaide Oval25 10 2003
34PoolWollongong Showground31 10 2003
35T5Pool111–13Lang Park, Brisbane2 11 2003
36D3Semi-finalTelstra Stadium, Sydney16 11 2003
37PoolStade Vélodrome, Marseille8 9 2007
38PoolStade de Gerland, Lyon8 9 2007
39T4PoolParc des Princes, Paris9 9 2007
40PoolStadium Municipal, Toulouse16 9 2007
41PoolMurrayfield, Edinburgh18 9 2007
42PoolStade de la Mosson, Montpellier23 9 2007
43PoolStadium Municipal, Toulouse29 9 2007
44D3PoolParc des Princes, Paris30 09 2007
45D3PoolRotorua International Stadium10 9 2011
46T4PoolRotorua International Stadium10 9 2011
47PoolRotorua International Stadium14 9 2011
48PoolMcLean Park, Napier18 9 2011
49PoolWellington Regional Stadium23 9 2011
50PoolOtago Stadium, Dunedin24 9 2011
51PoolOtago Stadium, Dunedin24 9 2011
52PoolYarrow Stadium, New Plymouth26 9 2011
53T4PoolWellington Regional Stadium2 10 2011
54PoolMillennium Stadium, Cardiff20 9 2015
55PoolVilla Park, Birmingham26 9 2015
56PoolMillennium Stadium, Cardiff2 10 2015
57PoolOlympic Stadium, London7 10 2015
58PoolCity of Manchester Stadium10 10 2015
59PoolCity of Manchester Stadium10 10 2015
60Quarter-finalMillennium Stadium, Cardiff17 10 2015
61Semi-finalTwickenham, London25 10 2015
62PoolTokyo Stadium, Chōfu20 09 2019
63PoolHanazono Rugby Stadium, Higashiōsaka28 09 2019
64PoolKobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe08 10 2019
65PoolShizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Fukuroi9 10 2019
66PoolOita Stadium, Ōita9 10 2019

Multiple hat-tricks

By national team