Since the inception of the Rugby World Cup in 1987, a total of 69 players have scored three tries or drop goals (a hat-trick) in a single match. ^[1] 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. ^[2] Besides Green and Gallagher, 15 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. ^[3] Two of Ellis's teammates, Eric Rush and Jeff Wilson, also scored hat-tricks in this game. ^[4] Five players have scored a hat-trick of drop goals: Jannie de Beer, Jonny Wilkinson, Juan Martín Hernández, Theuns Kotzé and George Ford. 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. ^[5]

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 ten occasions. There have only been seven hat-tricks in the World Cup knockout stages: Chester Williams and Jonah Lomu in 1995, ^{[6] [7]} de Beer in 1999, ^[5] Wilkinson in 2003, ^[8] Julian Savea and Adam Ashley-Cooper in 2015 ^{[9] [10]} and Will Jordan in 2023.

Six players have scored two World Cup hat-tricks, Savea being the only one to have scored both in the same tournament. ^[9] 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. ^{[1] [11]}

Hat-tricks

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

Rugby World Cup hat-tricks

No.	Player	Year	For	Against	Stage	Result	Venue	Date
1	Craig GreenT4	1987	New Zealand	Fiji	Pool	74–13	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	27 May 1987
2	John GallagherT4		New Zealand	Fiji	Pool	74–13	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	27 May 1987
3	Glen Webbe		Wales	Tonga	Pool	29–16	FMG Stadium, Palmerston North	29 May 1987
4	Mike Harrison		England	Japan	Pool	60–7	Concord Oval, Sydney	30 May 1987
5	John Jeffrey		Scotland	Romania	Pool	55–28	Carisbrook, Dunedin	2 June 1987
6	Didier Camberabero		France	Zimbabwe	Pool	70–12	Eden Park, Auckland	2 June 1987
7	Rodolphe Modin		France	Zimbabwe	Pool	70–12	Eden Park, Auckland	2 June 1987
8	Ieuan EvansT4		Wales	Canada	Pool	40–9	Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill	3 June 1987
9	Brendan Mullin		Ireland	Tonga	Pool	32–9	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane	3 June 1987
10	Brian RobinsonT4	1991	Ireland	Zimbabwe	Pool	55–11	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	6 October 1991
11	Terry Wright		New Zealand	United States	Pool	46–6	Kingsholm, Gloucester	8 October 1991
12	Jean-Baptiste Lafond		France	Fiji	Pool	33–9	Stade Lesdiguières, Grenoble	8 October 1991
13	Iwan Tukalo		Scotland	Zimbabwe	Pool	51–12	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	9 October 1991
14	Gavin HastingsT4	1995	Scotland	Ivory Coast	Pool	89–0	Olympia Park, Rustenburg	26 May 1995
15	Gareth Thomas		Wales	Japan	Pool	57–10	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein	27 May 1995
16	Marc EllisT6		New Zealand	Japan	Pool	145–17	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein	4 June 1995
17	Eric Rush		New Zealand	Japan	Pool	145–17	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein	4 June 1995
18	Jeff Wilson		New Zealand	Japan	Pool	145–17	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein	4 June 1995
19	Chester WilliamsT4		South Africa	Samoa	Quarter-final	42–14	Ellis Park, Johannesburg	10 June 1995
20	Jonah LomuT4		New Zealand	England	Semi-final	45–29	Newlands, Cape Town	18 June 1995
21	Keith WoodT4	1999	Ireland	United States	Pool	53–8	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	2 October 1999
22	Toutai Kefu		Australia	Romania	Pool	57–9	Ravenhill, Belfast	3 October 1999
23	Ugo Mola		France	Namibia	Pool	47–13	Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux	8 October 1999
24	Jeff Wilson		New Zealand	Italy	Pool	101–3	Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield	14 October 1999
25	Jannie de BeerD5		South Africa	England	Quarter-final	44–21	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	24 October 1999
26	Yannick Jauzion	2003	France	Fiji	Pool	61–18	Lang Park, Brisbane	11 October 2003
27	Joost van der Westhuizen		South Africa	Uruguay	Pool	72–6	Subiaco Oval, Perth	11 October 2003
28	Martín Gaitán		Argentina	Namibia	Pool	67–14	Central Coast Stadium, Gosford	14 October 2003
29	Mils MuliainaT4		New Zealand	Canada	Pool	68–6	Docklands Stadium, Melbourne	17 October 2003
30	Mat Rogers		Australia	Romania	Pool	90–8	Lang Park, Brisbane	18 October 2003
31	Matt Giteau		Australia	Namibia	Pool	142–0	Adelaide Oval	25 October 2003
32	Chris LathamT5		Australia	Namibia	Pool	142–0	Adelaide Oval	25 October 2003
33	Lote Tuqiri		Australia	Namibia	Pool	142–0	Adelaide Oval	25 October 2003
34	Brian Liebenberg		France	United States	Pool	41–14	Wollongong Showground	31 October 2003
35	Josh LewseyT5		England	Uruguay	Pool	111–13	Lang Park, Brisbane	2 November 2003
36	Jonny WilkinsonD3		England	France	Semi-final	24–7	Telstra Stadium, Sydney	16 November 2003
37	Doug Howlett	2007	New Zealand	Italy	Pool	76–14	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille	8 September 2007
38	Rocky Elsom		Australia	Japan	Pool	91–3	Stade de Gerland, Lyon	8 September 2007
39	Bryan HabanaT4		South Africa	Samoa	Pool	59–7	Parc des Princes, Paris	9 September 2007
40	Vincent Clerc		France	Namibia	Pool	87–10	Stadium Municipal, Toulouse	16 September 2007
41	Ally Hogg		Scotland	Romania	Pool	42–0	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	18 September 2007
42	Drew Mitchell		Australia	Fiji	Pool	55–12	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier	23 September 2007
43	Joe Rokocoko		New Zealand	Romania	Pool	85–8	Stadium Municipal, Toulouse	29 September 2007
44	Juan Martín HernándezD3		Argentina	Ireland	Pool	30–15	Parc des Princes, Paris	30 September 2007
45	Theuns KotzéD3	2011	Namibia	Fiji	Pool	25–49	Rotorua International Stadium	10 September 2011
46	Vereniki GonevaT4		Fiji	Namibia	Pool	49–25	Rotorua International Stadium	10 September 2011
47	Alesana Tuilagi		Samoa	Namibia	Pool	49–12	Rotorua International Stadium	14 September 2011
48	Vincent Clerc		France	Canada	Pool	46–19	McLean Park, Napier	18 September 2011
49	Adam Ashley-Cooper		Australia	United States	Pool	67–5	Wellington Regional Stadium	23 September 2011
50	Mark Cueto		England	Romania	Pool	67–3	Otago Stadium, Dunedin	24 September 2011
51	Chris Ashton		England	Romania	Pool	67–3	Otago Stadium, Dunedin	24 September 2011
52	Scott Williams		Wales	Namibia	Pool	81–7	Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth	26 September 2011
53	Zac GuildfordT4		New Zealand	Canada	Pool	79–15	Wellington Regional Stadium	2 October 2011
54	Cory Allen	2015	Wales	Uruguay	Pool	54–9	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	20 September 2015
55	JP Pietersen		South Africa	Samoa	Pool	46–6	Villa Park, Birmingham	26 September 2015
56	Julian Savea		New Zealand	Georgia	Pool	43–10	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	2 October 2015
57	Bryan Habana		South Africa	United States	Pool	64–0	Olympic Stadium, London	7 October 2015
58	Nick Easter		England	Uruguay	Pool	60–3	City of Manchester Stadium	10 October 2015
59	Jack Nowell		England	Uruguay	Pool	60–3	City of Manchester Stadium	10 October 2015
60	Julian Savea		New Zealand	France	Quarter-final	62–13	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	17 October 2015
61	Adam Ashley-Cooper		Australia	Argentina	Semi-final	29–15	Twickenham, London	25 October 2015
62	Kotaro Matsushima	2019	Japan	Russia	Pool	30–10	Tokyo Stadium, Chōfu	20 September 2019
63	Julián Montoya		Argentina	Tonga	Pool	28–12	Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Higashiōsaka	28 September 2019
64	Cobus Reinach		South Africa	Canada	Pool	66–7	Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe	8 October 2019
65	George Horne		Scotland	Russia	Pool	61–0	Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Fukuroi	9 October 2019
66	Josh Adams		Wales	Fiji	Pool	29–17	Oita Stadium, Ōita	9 October 2019
67	George FordD3	2023	England	Argentina	Pool	27–10	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille	9 September 2023
68	Cobus Reinach		South Africa	Romania	Pool	76–0	Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux	17 September 2023
69	Makazole Mapimpi		South Africa	Romania	Pool	76–0	Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux	17 September 2023
70	Damian Penaud		France	Namibia	Pool	96–0	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille	21 September 2023
71	Henry ArundellT5		England	Chile	Pool	71–0	Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille	23 September 2023
72	Aaron Smith		New Zealand	Italy	Pool	96–17	Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Décines-Charpieu	29 September 2023
73	Darcy GrahamT4		Scotland	Romania	Pool	84–0	Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille	30 September 2023
74	Leicester Fainga'anuku		New Zealand	Uruguay	Pool	73–0	Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Décines-Charpieu	5 October 2023
75	Louis Rees-Zammit		Wales	Georgia	Pool	43–19	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes	7 October 2023
76	Mateo Carreras		Argentina	Japan	Pool	39–27	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes	8 October 2023
77	Will Jordan		New Zealand	Argentina	Semi-final	44–6	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	20 October 2023

Multiple hat-tricks

Player	Hat-tricks	Years
Jeff Wilson	2	1995, 1999
Vincent Clerc		2007, 2011
Bryan Habana		2007, 2015
Julian Savea		2015
Adam Ashley-Cooper		2011, 2015
Cobus Reinach		2019, 2023

By national team

Team	Scored	Conceded
New Zealand	17	0
Australia	9	0
South Africa	9	0
England	9	2
France	9	2
Wales	7	0
Scotland	6	0
Argentina	4	3
Ireland	3	1
Samoa	1	3
Japan	1	7
Fiji	1	7
Namibia	1	10
Chile	0	1
Ivory Coast	0	1
Georgia	0	2
Russia	0	2
Italy	0	3
Tonga	0	3
Zimbabwe	0	4
Canada	0	5
United States	0	5
Uruguay	0	6
Romania	0	10

References

General

• "Statsguru / Test matches / Player records / Rugby World Cup / Tries scored: greater than or equal to 3". ESPN Scrum. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
• "Most drop goals – Rugby World Cup". ESPN Scrum. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.

Specific