Rugby World Cup playoff pressure made diamonds in the form of tries, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld as he selects the 15 best five-pointers of the finals.
With the stakes at their highest, clutch contributors came to the fore and created some cracking and crucial tries to bolster their teams’ title aspirations.
Without further ado, here’s my top 15 tries of the World Cup playoffs:
15. Sanchez Swoops In
Nicolas Sanchez was the hero for Argentina as he came off the bench and burgled this intercept try against Wales that secured Los Pumas’ place in the semi-finals.
14. Schoolboy Tricks
Fiji unlocked England’s defence with two tricks straight out of primary school rugby in Vilimoni Botitu’s between-the-legs pass, known as an “Eier” in Afrikaans circles, and Viliame Mata’s dummy.
13. Like A Hot Knife Through Butter
Red Rose playmakers Owen Farrell and Marcus Smith combined to put Ben Earl in a hole with the No 8 dissecting Argentina’s defence to score the opening try of the bronze final.
12. Twisted Steel
Manu Tuilagi made his mark early in England’s quarter-final against Fiji, showing good vision, power and determination to twist over for the first try.
11. The Tele’a Tango
Shades of Jonah Lomu, Mark Tele’a beat no less than five Argentinian defenders to set up a simple run-in for Shannon Frizell in the first semi-final.
10. A Nugget From Nuggy
Aaron Smith showed his veteran class from the back of a dominant All Blacks scrum, picking up and stepping two Los Pumas defenders to score a scintillating solo try.
9. Semi Provides The Spark
Semi Radradra inspired this try that allowed Fiji to draw level against England with an outstanding offload that freed up Isoa Nasilasila. The lock then linked up with Vilimoni Botitu, who had the pace to go over.
8. Through The Middle
The first try of the playoffs saw Wales strike through the middle, a clever inside ball from Dan Biggar to George North seeing the latter pop an offload off the ground after nearing getting away and Gareth Davies sending his halfback partner in under the sticks.
7. Powerful Statement
France made a powerful early statement of intent against South Africa with a monstrous maul to go close, from where Antoine Dupont and Damien Penaud combined down the blindside to send Cyril Baille over for the first of his two tries on the night.
6. Big, Bad Bundee Strikes
After chipping away at the All Blacks’ defence in their classic quarter-final clash, the dam wall burst courtesy of red-hot Bundee Aki, who beat a handful of would-be tacklers en route to a barnstorming score.
5. A Cracker From Carreras
Santiago Carreras scored this brilliant individual try against England in the bronze final, the Los Pumas pivot beating three defenders on his way to the try line.
4. Bok Counterpunch
Excellent pressure by Eben Etzebeth on France captain Antoine Dupont led to a turnover and the eventual champion Springboks made the most of it. Quick touches by Damien de Allende and Pieter-Steph du Toit saw Jesse Kriel stab a great grubber through for Cheslin Kolbe to collect and score.
3. Perfect 10
Running with the ball in both hands, Richie Mo’unga got the edge on Josh van der Flier he wanted from a lineout to set up this scorching try for the prolific Will Jordan.
2. Sharpshooter Supreme
Striking from afar like a deadly sharpshooter, Will Jordan complete a rare semi-final hat-trick and equalled Jonah Lomu, Bryan Habana and Julian Savea’s record for most tries in a single World Cup (8) with this classy chip-and-chase effort.
1. Zombie Killers
The All Blacks raced into a 13-point lead against Ireland, Beauden Barrett sparking the opening try with a piece of brilliance and exceptional handling leading to Leicester Fainga’anuku dotting down.
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