List of Rugby League World Cup hat-tricks

The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament which has been played at various intervals since 1954. Hat-tricks have been achieved 71 times at the tournament, 70 times with tries and just once with field goals. The first player to do this was Alex Watson, who achieved the feat for Australia against New Zealand in the inaugural tournament.^[1] Players who have played for Australia have scored the most hat-tricks with 30 (29 tries 1 field goal), while Papua New Guinea representatives have conceded the most with 11 (all tries).

Hat-tricks are more of a common occurrence in the group stages, as the match-ups usually place higher-ranked teams against lower-ranked teams. Just ten hat-tricks have occurred in the knockout stages, six happening in the quarter-finals and four in the semi-finals. They have been scored by Bryan Fletcher and Robbie Paul in the 2000 tournament, Billy Slater and Johnathan Thurston in the 2008 edition, Jarryd Hayne (twice) and Brett Morris in the 2013 competition, Valentine Holmes (twice) in the 2017 tournament and Josh Addo-Carr in the 2021 edition.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

Out of the 70 hat-tricks scored, seven people have achieved the feat twice, these being Ian Schubert, Billy Slater, Akuila Uate, Manu Vatuvei, Jarryd Hayne, Suliasi Vunivalu, Valentine Holmes and Josh Addo-Carr. 15 people have scored an additional try on top of the hat-trick. Holmes and Addo-Carr have scored five tries in a single game, whilst Holmes is the only player to score six tries in a single game. Four players have scored hat-tricks while being on the losing side, these being Bob Fulton, Ian Schubert, Damien Blanch and Chris Taripo.^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12] Billy Smith is the only player to score a hat-trick of field goals, doing so for Australia against France in the 1968 tournament.^[13]

Hat-tricks

Key
Player	The player who scored the hat-trick
For	The team the player scored the hat-trick for
Against	The team the player scored the hat-trick against
Stage	The stage of the tournament at which the hat-trick was scored
Result	The end result of the match
Venue	The stadium and city where the match was played
Date	The date the hat-trick was scored
⁴	Player scored four tries
⁵	Player scored five tries
⁶	Player scored six tries

Tries

Rugby League World Cup hat-tricks by player
No.	Player	For	Against	Stage	Result	Venue	Date	Reference
1	Alex Watson	Australia	New Zealand	Group	34–15	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille	7 November 1954	^[1]
2	Brian Carlson	Australia	New Zealand	Group	21–15	Headingley, Leeds	1 October 1960	^[14]
3	Clive Sullivan	Great Britain	New Zealand	Group	38–14	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	8 June 1968	^[15]
4	Bob Fulton	Australia	Great Britain	Group	21–27	Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan	29 October 1972	^[9]
5	Keith Fielding⁴	England	France	Group	48–2	Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux	11 October 1975	^[16]
6	Ian Schubert	Australia	Wales	Group	18–6	St. Helen's, Swansea	19 October 1975	^[17]
7	Ken Gill	England	New Zealand	Group	27–12	Odsal Stadium, Bradford	25 October 1975	^[18]
8	Ian Schubert	Australia	England	Group	13–16	Central Park, Wigan	1 November 1975	^[10]
9	Dale Shearer⁴	Australia	France	Group	52–0	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	13 December 1986	^[19]
10	Garry Jack	Australia	France	Group	52–0	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	13 December 1986	^[19]
11	Shane Horo	New Zealand	Papua New Guinea	Group	66–14	Carlaw Park, Auckland	10 July 1988	^[20]
12	Kevin Iro	New Zealand	Papua New Guinea	Group	66–14	Carlaw Park, Auckland	10 July 1988	^[20]
13	Michael O'Connor⁴	Australia	Papua New Guinea	Group	70–8	Eric Weissel Oval, Wagga Wagga	20 July 1988	^[21]
14	Dave Watson	New Zealand	France	Group	34–0	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	3 December 1989	^[22]
15	Brad Mackay	Australia	France	Group	34–2	Pioneer Oval, Parkes	27 June 1990	^[23]
16	Willie Carne	Australia	Papua New Guinea	Group	40–6	PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby	13 October 1991	^[24]
17	Richie Blackmore	New Zealand	Papua New Guinea	Group	66–10	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	5 July 1992	^[25]
18	Anthony Sullivan	Wales	France	Group	28–6	Ninian Park, Cardiff	9 October 1995	^[26]
19	John Hopoate	Australia	South Africa	Group	86–6	Gateshead International Stadium, Gateshead	10 October 1995	^[27]
20	Brett Dallas	Australia	Fiji	Group	66–0	Kirklees Stadium, Huddersfield	14 October 1995	^[28]
21	Tevita Vaikona⁴	Tonga	South Africa	Group	66–18	Stade Sébastien Charléty, Paris	28 October 2000	^[29]
22	Atunasia Vunivialu	Fiji	Russia	Group	38–12	Craven Park, Hull	29 October 2000	^[30]
23	Kris Tassell	Wales	Cook Islands	Group	38–6	Racecourse Ground, Wrexham	29 October 2000	^[31]
24	Mat Rogers⁴	Australia	Fiji	Group	66–8	Gateshead International Stadium, Gateshead	1 November 2000	^[32]
25	Kevin Sinfield	England	Russia	Group	76–4	Knowsley Road, St Helens	1 November 2000	^[33]
26	Jamie Peacock	England	Fiji	Group	66–10	Headingley, Leeds	4 November 2000	^[34]
27	Wendell Sailor⁴	Australia	Russia	Group	110–4	The Boulevard, Hull	4 November 2000	^[35]
28	Ryan Girdler	Australia	Russia	Group	110–4	The Boulevard, Hull	4 November 2000	^[35]
29	Lesley Vainikolo	New Zealand	Wales	Group	58–18	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	5 November 2000	^[36]
30	Pascal Jampy	France	South Africa	Group	56–6	Stadium Municipal, Toulouse	5 November 2000	^[37]
31	Bryan Fletcher	Australia	Samoa	Quarter-final	66–10	Vicarage Road, Watford	11 November 2000	^[2]
32	Robbie Paul	New Zealand	France	Quarter-final	54–6	Wheldon Road, Castleford	12 November 2000	^[3]
33	Lee Smith	England	Papua New Guinea	Group	32–22	Willows Sports Complex, Townsville	25 October 2008	^[38]
34	Damien Blanch	Ireland	Tonga	Group	20–22	Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta	27 October 2008	^[11]
35	Akuila Uate	Fiji	France	Group	42–6	Wollongong Showground, Wollongong	1 November 2008	^[39]
36	Billy Slater	Australia	England	Group	52–4	Docklands Stadium, Melbourne	2 November 2008	^[40]
37	Pat Richards	Ireland	Samoa	Group	34–16	Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta	5 November 2008	^[41]
38	Manu Vatuvei⁴	New Zealand	England	Group	36–24	Newcastle International Sports Centre, Newcastle	8 November 2008	^[42]
39	David Williams	Australia	Papua New Guinea	Group	46–6	Willows Sports Complex, Townsville	9 November 2008	^[43]
40	Billy Slater	Australia	Fiji	Semi-final	52–0	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	16 November 2008	^[4]
41	Johnathan Thurston	Australia	Fiji	Semi-final	52–0	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	16 November 2008	^[4]
42	Manu Vatuvei	New Zealand	Samoa	Group	42–24	Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington	27 October 2013	^[44]
43	Akuila Uate	Fiji	Ireland	Group	32–14	Spotland Stadium, Rochdale	28 October 2013	^[45]
44	Ryan Hall	England	Ireland	Group	42–0	Kirklees Stadium, Huddersfield	2 November 2013	^[46]
45	Antonio Winterstein	Samoa	Papua New Guinea	Group	38–4	Craven Park, Hull	4 November 2013	^[47]
46	Chris Taripo	Cook Islands	Tonga	Group	16–22	Leigh Sports Village, Leigh	5 November 2013	^[12]
47	Sonny Bill Williams	New Zealand	Papua New Guinea	Group	56–10	Headingley, Leeds	8 November 2013	^[48]
48	Jarryd Hayne⁴	Australia	United States	Quarter-final	62–0	Racecourse Ground, Wrexham	16 November 2013	^[6]
49	Brett Morris⁴	Australia	United States	Quarter-final	62–0	Racecourse Ground, Wrexham	16 November 2013	^[6]
50	Jarryd Hayne	Australia	Fiji	Semi-final	64–0	Wembley Stadium, London	23 November 2013	^[5]
51	David Mead	Papua New Guinea	Wales	Group	50–6	PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby	28 October 2017	^[49]
52	Michael Jennings	Tonga	Scotland	Group	50–4	Barlow Park, Cairns	29 October 2017	^[50]
53	Wade Graham⁴	Australia	France	Group	52–6	Canberra Stadium, Canberra	3 November 2017	^[51]
54	Te Maire Martin	New Zealand	Scotland	Group	74–6	Rugby League Park, Christchurch	4 November 2017	^[52]
55	Suliasi Vunivalu	Fiji	Wales	Group	72–6	Willows Sports Complex, Townsville	5 November 2017	^[53]
56	Suliasi Vunivalu	Fiji	Italy	Group	38–10	Canberra Stadium, Canberra	10 November 2017	^[54]
57	David Fusitu'a	Tonga	New Zealand	Group	28–22	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton	11 November 2017	^[55]
58	Justin Olam	Papua New Guinea	United States	Group	64–0	PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby	12 November 2017	^[56]
59	Valentine Holmes⁵	Australia	Samoa	Quarter-final	46–0	Darwin Stadium, Darwin	17 November 2017	^[7]
60	Valentine Holmes⁶	Australia	Fiji	Semi-final	54–6	Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane	24 November 2017	^[7]
61	Jake Maizen	Italy	Scotland	Group	28–4	Headingley Stadium, Leeds	16 October 2022	^[57]
62	Josh Addo-Carr⁴	Australia	Scotland	Group	84–0	Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry	21 October 2022	^[58]
63	Campbell Graham	Australia	Scotland	Group	84–0	Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry	21 October 2022	^[58]
64	Dallin Watene-Zelezniak⁴	New Zealand	Jamaica	Group	68–6	MKM Stadium, Hull	22 October 2022	^[59]
65	Daniel Tupou	Tonga	Wales	Group	32–6	Totally Wicked Stadium, St Helens	24 October 2022	^[60]
66	Dom Young⁴	England	Greece	Group	94–4	Bramall Lane, Sheffield	29 October 2022	^[61]
67	Tesi Niu	Tonga	Cook Islands	Group	92–10	Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough	30 October 2022	^[62]
68	Will Penisini⁴	Tonga	Cook Islands	Group	92–10	Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough	30 October 2022	^[62]
69	Taylan May⁴	Samoa	France	Group	62–4	Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington	30 October 2022	^[63]
70	Josh Addo-Carr⁵	Australia	Lebanon	Quarter-final	48–4	Kirklees Stadium, Huddersfield	4 November 2022	^[8]

Field goals

Rugby League World Cup field goals
No.	Player	For	Against	Stage	Result	Venue	Date	Reference
1	Billy Smith	Australia	France	Group	37–4	Lang Park, Brisbane	8 June 1968	^[13]

Multiple hat-tricks

Multiple Rugby League World Cup hat-tricks by player
Player	No.	Tournament(s)
Ian Schubert	2	1975
Billy Slater	2	2008
Akuila Uate	2	2008, 2013
Manu Vatuvei	2	2008, 2013
Jarryd Hayne	2	2013
Suliasi Vunivalu	2	2017
Valentine Holmes	2	2017
Josh Addo-Carr	2	2021

Hat-tricks by each national team

Rugby League World Cup hat-tricks by national team
Team	Hat-tricks for (tries)	Hat-tricks against (tries)	Hat-tricks for (field goals)	Hat-tricks against (field goals)	Hat-tricks for (total)	Hat-tricks against (total)
Australia	29	0	1	0	30	0
New Zealand	11	5	0	0	11	5
England	7	3	0	0	7	3
Tonga	6	2	0	0	6	2
Fiji	5	7	0	0	5	7
Papua New Guinea	2	11	0	0	2	11
Wales	2	5	0	0	2	5
Ireland	2	2	0	0	2	2
Samoa	2	3	0	0	2	3
France	1	10	0	1	1	11
Cook Islands	1	2	0	0	1	2
Great Britain	1	1	0	0	1	1
Italy	1	1	0	0	1	1
Scotland	0	5	0	0	0	5
Russia	0	4	0	0	0	4
South Africa	0	3	0	0	0	3
United States	0	3	0	0	0	3
Jamaica	0	1	0	0	0	1
Greece	0	1	0	0	0	1
Lebanon	0	1	0	0	0	1

References

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[38]

[39]

[40]

[41]

[42]

[43]

[44]

[45]

[46]

[47]

[48]

[49]

[50]

[51]

[52]

[53]

[54]

[55]

[56]

[57]

[58]

[59]

[60]

[61]

[62]

[63]

Search