One of the deeper and more interesting betting markets for the Rugby World Cup, this year played in Japan starting in September, is that for the top tournament try-scorer.
Several of our top rugby betting sites are already taking bets on who will be the leading try-scorer overall. You can view the running tally of top-try scorers throughout the Rugby World Cup right here.
We will look at all the leading try-scorers from all previous Rugby World Cups to see if we can gain some insight into who will score the most five-pointers this time around.
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By looking at the positions of these players, who they play for and at what stage they scored most of their tries we should be able to narrow down the chances for this market considerably. And hopefully we can find some value performers at juicy odds to throw into the mix.
Top try-scorers from previous Rugby World Cups
1987 World Cup in Australia, NZ
Top try scorers: Craig Green (New Zealand) 6, John Kirwan (New Zealand) 6.
New Zealand won the tournament and wingers Green and Kirwan had a field day. Interestingly though, Green scored all six of his tries in the All Blacks’ opening two matches, when they racked up 70 and 74 points against Italy and Fiji respectively. All-time great Kirwan scored three in the group matches then added a double in the semi-final and another try in the final victory against France.
1991 World Cup in UK, Ireland, France
Top try scorers: Jean-Baptiste Lafond (France) 6, David Campese (Australia) 6.
Both of these players spent most of their time at wing but also played fullback regularly at international level. Lafond scored five of his tries in the group stage and one in a quarter-final loss to England; Campese scored three in the preliminaries, a brace in the quarter-finals and another try in the semi-final victory.
1995 World Cup in South Africa
Top try scorers: Jonah Lomu (New Zealand) 7, Marc Ellis (New Zealand) 7.
Both players were used on the wing in this tournament. Six of Ellis’s tries came in one romp against Japan, when the Kiwis scored 140-plus points! Lomu was at his unstoppable best; he scored three tries in the preliminary rounds, but exploded with a try in the quarter-finals then four tries in a big semi-final win against England.
1999 World Cup in Wales
Top try scorers: Jonah Lomu (New Zealand) 8.
The giant winger scored five of his six tries in the group stage, including a triple against Canada, a single try in the quarter-finals and a double in the surprise semi-final loss to France.
2003 World Cup in Australia
Top try scorers: Doug Howlett (New Zealand) 7, Mils Muliaina (New Zealand) 7.
Again both players spent time at wing and fullback for the All Blacks. Muliaina collected four of his tries in a single group match against Canada. Howlett scored six tries in the group stages and another in the third-place playoff. Howlett is the All Blacks’ leading try-scorer with 49 tries in only 62 matches. He could certainly sniff out an opportunity.
2007 World Cup in France
Top try scorers: Bryan Habana (South Africa) 8
The electric winger Habana had an unforgettable tournament. He opened with four tries in the first match against Samoa, and added the final two in the semi-final win. South Africa then went on to win the final, though they did not score a try in a 15-6 win against England. Habana is the Springboks’ greatest Test try-scorer with 67.
2011 World Cup in New Zealand
Top try scorers: Chris Ashton (England) 6, Vincent Clerc (France) 6.
The winger Clerc scored of his six tries in the group stages, while winger-fullback Ashton scored all six of his five-pointers in the group stages.
2015 World Cup in England
Top try scorers: Julian Savea (New Zealand) 8.
The towering winger scored five tries in the group stages and added the other three in the quarter-final thrashing of France. Savea was one of the Kiwis’ top try-scorers with 46 tries from only 54 matches. He scored them at a faster rate than any of the All Blacks’ other prolific try-scorers.
Tips for Rugby World Cup leading try-scorer
Sifting through the top try-scorers from previous World Cup several things become apparent:
- The top try-scorer is highly likely to be wearing an all black jumper!
- The leading try-scorer is likely to come from a team that makes it through to the semi-finals at least.
- Wingers or at least outside-backs are the only players with much chance of topping the numbers.
- You need to look for players in a team likely to rack up a lopsided score line early in the tournament. Many of those above who have ended up with the most tries overall have somewhere along the
- line scored a hat-trick or better in a group match.
- We feel that around six tries in this tournament may well be enough for your player to walk away with the title of top try-scorer.
- Looking at the pools and draw, it’s pretty clear that the greatest preliminary-round mismatches are likely to occur in Pool B, which includes favourites New Zealand and South Africa alongside Italy (ranked 14), Namibia (23) and Canada (21).
World Cup Rugby top try-scorer betting
(Early market from Australian bookmaker Beteasy.com.au)
Please note that these markets will change rapidly as the tournament approaches, and check with our recommended sportsbooks for your region to see the latest markets.
Rieko Ioane (New Zealand) 5.50
Jacob Stockdale (Ireland) 7.50
Waisake Naholo (New Zealand) 7.50
Aphiwe Dyantyi (South Africa) 11.00
Ben Smith (New Zealand) 15.00
Jonny May (England) 15.00
George North (Wales) 21.00
Jack Maddocks (Australia) 21.00
Malcolm Marx (South Africa) 21.00
Beauden Barrett (New Zealand) 26.00
Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa) 26.00
Joe Cokanasiga (England) 26.00
Sibusiso Nkosi (South Africa) 26.00
Jack Nowell (England) 26.00
Keith Earls (Ireland) 26.00
Elliot Daly (England) 26.00
Juan Imhoff (Argentina) 26.00
Bautista Delguy (Argentina) 26.00
Santiago Cordero (Argentina) 26.00
Josh Adams (Wales) 34.00
Liam Williams (Wales) 34.00
Ryan Crotty (New Zealand) 34.00
Yoann Huget (France) 34.00
Chris Ashton (England) 34.00
Jamie George (England) 34.00
Dane Coles (New Zealand) 34.00
Damian Penaud (France) 41.00
Jack Goodhue (New Zealand) 41.00
Alivereti Raka (France) 41.00
Codie Taylor (New Zealand) 51.00
Garry Ringrose (Ireland) 51.00
Stuart Hogg (Scotland) 51.00
Sean Maitland (Scotland) 51.00
Tommy Seymour (Scotland) 51.00
Huw Jones (Scotland) 51.00
Joaquin Tuculet (Argentina) 51.00
Josua Tuisova (Fiji) 51.00
Rory Best (Ireland) 51.00
Semi Radradra (Fiji) 51.00
Marika Koroibete (Australia) 67.00
WGL best bets, predictions for RWC 2019 top try-scorer
We have gone for a couple of superstars at value prices to top the bill at this World Cup. No Knock on the Kiwi flyers Rieko Ioane ($5.50) and Waisake Naholo ($7.50) but we will look a little wider in the market.
Ben Smith (New Zealand) $15. The veteran is headed to his last World Cup and has scored 33 tries from 78 appearances. He will need to step it up a notch from that strike rate to be leading try-scorer but there’s no reason he won’t. He’s quick, elusive and will want to go out in style, plus the All Blacks are short-priced favourites to go all the ways so he should get every chance.
George North (Wales) $21. The blockbusting winger has always had a knack for finding a way over the line. With the Welsh expected to do big things in this tournament he could certainly be amongst the leading contenders. North is paying $21 with leading online betting sites, about a month out from the tournament.
