The Best Rugby Tries of 2022
As enter 2023, a year full of promise, great rugby and another world cup year, we look back at some of the best action from the past year.
This was an incredibly difficult list to compile, as there was so much exciting and epic rugby played over the year. Do let us know in the comments if your favourite try did not make the list.
But, for the meantime, enjoy our favourite rugby tries of 2022.
1 // Lalakai Foketi vs France
They say fortune favours the brave. That held true for the Wallabies, who started this move with an outrageous offload on their own line before going 95 metres for an absolute ripper during their Autumn Tour test against France.
It was not enough for the Wallabies, as they went down 30-29 to the top-ranked team. But with a favourable draw, they are shaping up as dark horses for next year’s World Cup.
2 // Andre Hugo-Venter vs Connacht
The next entry on this list takes us to the United Rugby Championship. This one had everything, from an ambitious crosskick followed by a sweeping reverse cross field move, an outrageous offload, and some seriously intricate passing that one almost needs to watch in slow motion to keep up. Oh (and this will make every forward smile)- it was finished off by the hooker.
3 // Kalaveti Ravouvou vs Chiefs
Like many of the Fijian Drua’s tries in their debut season, this one started from inside their own 22. Vinaya Habosi runs back to chase a grubber on his own line, somehow evades not just one, two, but FOUR would be tacklers, before getting the offload away to Ravouvou, who, with a step, a show and a go, completes the move with a 60 metre run to the line.
Expect a couple more gems from this combination for Fiji at next year’s World Cup.
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4 // Timaima Ravisa vs Waratahs Women
Speaking of the Drua, their female counterparts, the Fijiana Drua, took the Women’s competition by storm. Check out this play in the final- Ravisa takes on the fullback after a brilliant break, and rather than going with a conventional side step, instead SLIDES behind her, causing the would-be tackler to fall over her. As she is not held, Ravisa is fully entitled to get back to her feet, and stroll over the line. We think this move should be called “the Ravisa” from now on.
5 // Eduardo Padovani Yutaka Nagare
You’ve probably seen this try before. But it deserves to be on this list not only because of its brilliance, but its gravity.
With under two minutes to go, Italy were staring down the barrel of a 7th consecutive winless Six Nations campaign. Agne Capuozzo gets his hands on the ball 65 metres out, and proceeds to tear up almost the entire Welsh team, before handing the ball off to Padovani to seal the try. The ensuing conversion was the last play of the match and sealed Italy’s long-awaited win. How good!
6 // Iwan Pyrs Jones vs France 7s
Check out a bit of filthy footwork from Jones for Wales against France at the Singapore Sevens. Five consecutive ridiculous sidesteps within 10 square metres bamboozles the defenders and sets him up for an individual effort that he will long remember.
7 // Ngantungane Punivai vs Wellington
Trailing by 10 points in the final of the National Provincial Championship with 4 minutes to go, Canterbury needed some magic. And they got it.
A rather routine midfield move explodes with a break, two outrageous offloads, and a kick. It’s the chase that takes the cake. Punivai is relentless in a seemingly impossible chase, and SOMEHOW pounces on the ball like a thief in the night, before finishing off the try with a deft tuck and roll. It was not enough to win the final as Wellington held on to claim their first NPC for 22 years.
8 // Yutaka Nagare vs All Blacks
The Brave Blossoms lived up to their name in a narrow defeat to the All Blacks. That included an incredible try to Nagare. Japan were required to improvise after a grubber kick gone wrong. After doing well to hold on to a pass in front of him, Dylan Riley skirted Sevu Reece on the outside before sucking in two more defenders and getting an absolutely disgusting offload to Nagare who scooted in to score and keep them in touch at half time. The All Blacks were never comfortable again in that match.
9 // Henry Arundell vs Toulon
Arundell’s effort against Toulon in last season’s Challenge Cup will be replayed for years to come. Recovering from a precarious position on his own try line, Arundell sets off, skinning four players and running the entire opposition off the park to score one of the individual tries of the year, if not the last 10 years.
10 // Stacey Fluhler vs England
The Black Ferns were guilty of kicking away too much ball to a strong England side in the first half of the World Cup Final. From the second-half kick-off, they signalled an intent to change tactics by spreading the ball from just outside their own 22, breaking from an outrageous dummy from Fluhler before a perfectly time inside-outside pass gave the Black Ferns a try within 30 seconds. This try swung the momentum of the match and set the Black Ferns on their way to win a mesmerising world cup final.
Words // Daniel Naidu
