Opinion
If you ran a fantasy shootout between the best try scorers in Rugby League World Cup history, and the best goal kickers, surely the try scorers win? Right?
The team is made up of the greatest try scorers in each position. The only criteria is that the player must have played at least one game in the World Cup in his selected position, and tries scored in the current competition are excluded.
Mal Meninga qualifies for both teams but has been selected only in the try scorers as he is higher in the try-scoring rankings than the goal-kicking rankings.
1. Billy Slater – 16 tries in 13 games, Australia
Slater sits on top of the all-time list and notched trebles against both England and Fiji in 2008.
2. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck – 11 tries in ten games, New Zealand
Scored four doubles in his World Cup career.
3. Jarryd Hayne – 14 tries in 14 games, Australia and Fiji
Hayne’s best effort was for Australia in 2019 when he scored nine tries in just five games. He sits in second place on the all-time try scoring list.
Jarryd Hayne of the Eels. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
4. Richie Blackmore – nine tries in eight games, New Zealand
The big centre’s best result was five tries in three games in the 1989 World Cup, including a treble against PNG in 1989.
5. Valentine Holmes – 12 tries in six games, Australia
Of Holmes’ 12 tries, 11 came in just two games in the 2017 series. He scored five tries against Samoa and then went one better a week later when he crossed for six against Fiji.
6. Bob Fulton – 13 tries in 15 games, Australia
Fulton’s highest try tally came in Game 1 of the 1972 World Cup when he scored three tries in Australia’s 27–21 loss to Great Britain. Imagine scoring three tries and losing?
7. Shaun Edwards – six tries in 11 games, Great Britain and England
Edwards’ tries were all scored as doubles, twice against France and once against PNG.
8. Jamie Peacock – seven tries in eight games, England
Six of Peacock’s tries came in the 2000 series – at one stage he’d scored six tries in just three games.
9. Andrew Johns – five tries in nine games, Australia
Johns played only two of his nine World Cup games at halfback, and the rest at hooker.
Brad Fittler and Andrew Johns of Australia hold the 1995 World Cup trophy. (Photo by Mark Leech/Getty Images)
10. Jerome Guisset – four tries in seven games, France
Better known as a back-rower, Guisset captained France in the 2008 World Cup.
11. Mal Meninga – nine tries in 13 games, Australia
In the 1989 World Cup, Meninga scored a try in seven consecutive games.
12. Ron Coote – six tries in ten games, Australia
In the 1968 World Cup, Coote scored a try in each of the four games he played.
13. Brad Fittler – six tries in 13 games, Australia
Fittler’s only double was against Wales in 2000.
Now for their opposition.
The player must have played at least one game in the World Cup in his selected position, and goals kicked in the current competition are excluded.
1. George Fairbairn – 43 goals in 11 games, England and Great Britain
He played for both Wigan and Hull KR in the 1970s and ’80s and notched up over 1250 goals in his 16-year career.
2. Michael O’Connor – 36 goals in nine games, Australia
A consistent goal kicker and a dangerous attacking player who also scored nine World Cup tries.
3. Michael Cronin – 48 goals in 11 games, Australia
One of the best centres to play the game, Cronin’s best goal-kicking performance was nine from ten attempts against Wales in 1975.
4. Johnathan Davies – 27 goals in seven games, Great Britain and Wales
Davies was one of the greats of the game, and a dual international who captained Wales in rugby union and Great Britain in rugby league.
5. Matt Rogers – 27 goals in four games, Australia
Rogers only played four World Cup games but he certainly made the most of it, winning all, and scoring four tries and nine goals in a match against Fiji in 2000.
6. Johnathan Thurston – 52 goals in nine games, Australia
Thurston stands on top of the goal-kicking table – and indeed the overall point-scoring table – just shading Shaun Johnson and Mick Cronin on 48 goals each. Thurston’s kicking success rate was just over 75%, and he really loved playing against Fiji, scoring four tries and 21 goals in three appearances.
Johnathan Thurston (Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
7. Shaun Johnson – 48 goals in ten games, New Zealand
Johnson sits in equal second place alongside Mick Cronin, and kicked 9 goals from 14 attempts against Scotland in 2017. Could also play a bit.
8. Peter Brown – 16 goals in eight games, New Zealand
Brown is hardly a household name but he was a regular selection for NZ in the mid-80s. His best kicking performance came in a 1985 clash with PNG, when he landed nine goals from 12 attempts.
9. Cameron Smith – 29 goals in 17 games, Australia
The presence of Thurston mean that Smith rarely got a kick at goal in his first two World Cup campaigns, in 2008 and 2013, but he made up for it in 2017, landing 25 from 33 attempts as he led Australia to World Cup victory again.
10. Sio Siua Taukeiaho – 16 goals in four games, Tonga
One of the best forwards in the game in recent years and a more than handy kicker for both club and country, and his 16 World Cup goals have come from just 18 attempts.
11. Victor Serrano – five goals in six games, France
Not really much to get excited about but Serrano was a pretty useful forward for France in the late ’60s and early ’70s.
12. Rhyse Martin – 16 goals in four games, PNG
Didn’t really hit the heights in his two seasons with Canterbury, but has been a great success with the Leeds Rhinos in recent years. His best World Cup tally is kicking ten goals from 11 attempts against the USA in 2017.
13. Andy Farrell – 28 goals in nine games, England
Another player who has represented his country in both rugby league and rugby union, Farrell kicked nine goals against Fiji in 2000.
Two good sides made up of players who had no trouble getting on the score sheet, but who wins in a fantasy shoot out? The try scorers have an absolutely deadly spine in Slater, Fulton, Edwards and Johns, but the goal scorers’ spine of Fairbairn, Thurston, Johnson and Smith isn’t too shabby either.
Both teams have great three-quarter lines, with Hayne and RTS the standouts for the try scorers, but the goal kickers are more than a match for them, with four outstanding players in Cronin, Davies, O’Connor and Rogers.
Perhaps it just comes down to the forward battle, and that’s where the try scorers have the edge, with two solid front rowers and a lethal back row in Fittler, Coote and Meninga.
For me, it’s the try scorers to win this one by 12 points.
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