Our list: The top tries of 2009

Rugby is crying out for tries; they are after all the crowning glory of all rugby endeavour. In 2009 there’s been a handful of great tries and we look back at some of the finest.

There are different kinds of tries – great individual tries, team tries, tries made great by match circumstance, adventurous tries and cheeky tries.

There were great tries in all of those categories. We shall pick what we think is the best from each category and then choose the best of those five for the rugby365.com Try of the Year.

Individual Tries:

Think of Cedric Heymans as France moved the ball from a scrum and gave him an overlap on the touchline with 48 metres to go to the New Zealand goal-line and four All Blacks to beat. He went outside Cory Jane and then outside Mils Muliaina and Jimmy Cowan before cutting back inside Kieran Read to score.

Think of Shane Williams against Argentina this November. It was a try purely of his won making as Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe kicked ahead and Williams picked it up on the half-way line and skated through the Pumas to score under the posts. It was not Williams’s best year but what a great try.

Think of Jamie Heaslip cutting through France and keeping going till he scored, and he was a forward.

Think of the unrelenting power of Jaque Fourie as he raced down the right touch-line, right on the touch-line, past Ronan O’Gara, Mike Phillips and Pommy Bowe to squeeze the ball over the line to give South Africa the lead with just over six minutes to go.

Team Tries:

Sometimes the whole team scores the tries – building up with many passes.

Here are some: Ma’a Nonu against Australia in August when Sitiveni Sivivatu gave the clever last pass, Fourie du Preez against Italy in November when Danie Rossouw gave the clever pass, Gonzalo Camacho against England after a great break by Horatio Agulla who then sent a long, perfect pass to his right, Vincent Clerc against South Africa in November, Isaac Ross against South Africa in August and Rob Kearney against South Africa in June.

Lee Byrne’s exquisite try against France in February was really a team try. From a lineout Wales went left. Tom Shanklin forced his way ahead. Quick ball then went to Byrne who had a straight 50-metre run to the line, outpacing the cover defence.

Australia attacked New Zealand from the very start. Ashley-Cooper starts a counter-attack and the Wallabies carry it on. Ashley-Cooper is strong twice more before Berrick Barnes dummies and cuts inside Sitiveni Sivivatu, brushes Mils Muliaina aside and scores.

Crucial Tries:

Australia are beating Ireland 16-9 and time is up when Ireland have an attacking scrum. They went right from it and Brian O’Driscoll ran straight and clean through in a breathtaking nanosecond to score under the posts. It killed the Wallabies’ hopes of a Grand Slam.

South Africa lost one Tri-Nations match, and that was to the Wallabies in Brisbane. From a scrum the Wallabies went 8-9-12-13 – George Smith to Genia to Berrick Barnes to Adam Ashley-Cooper and the stocky centre cut clean through for a try between Fourie and De Villiers who did not get close enough to touch him. The Wallabies won and that was the try that really did it.

And, of course, Jaque Fourie’s try against the B&I Lions was a crucial one.

Before the Lions series there had been lots of talk, some of it war talk. There was a recurrent theory that the Lions’ pack would overpower their Springbok opponents. And then the Springboks attacked and John Smit scored a try of great simplicity as they used quick ball from a tackle to send their captain bursting over.

In the last round of the Super 14’s league matches, Danie Rossouw bashed, stretched and scored the decisive try which put the Bulls to top of the table and the Sharks out of the semis.

Adventurous Tries:

These are the ones that come as a surprise because of the parlous state the team is in which scores the try or because they are deep in their own territory.

Such was Bryan Habana’s first try for the Barbarians against the All Blacks at Twickenham in December when the All Blacks were deep in the Barbarians’ territory and Drew Mitchell picked up the ball at full tilt. He raced off and passed to Habana who scored.

In November, Vincent Clerc of France grubbered towards the New Zealand 22 on the New Zealand right. Jimmy Cowan picked up and passed to his left. The next thing Sitiveni Sivivatu was speeding down the left. He played back inside to Mils Muliaina who scored.

Cheeky Tries:

Cheeky tries are a delight. They break the stereotype and knock the predictable for a loop.

South Africa played the Wallabies at Newlands and the ball came to John Smit, South Africa’s heavy front rower, in the flyhalf position.

Smit sold a dummy and then lay back to slide through a perfect grubber. Tall Victor Matfield chased it, bent down from his Olympian heights, gathered in the ball and dived over for a try. 

Intercept tries are often cheeky. South Africa do them better than most and their poachers-par-excellence are Bryan Habana and Jean de Villiers.

Habana did one for the Barbarians against the All Blacks at Twickenham in December. New Zealand were attacking but, with a juggle, Habana intercepted a passing movement about 25 metres from his line and was off for a try under the posts.

Habana also did one in the Super 14. In the last minute of the match with the Cheetahs he intercepted, ran through empty acres to score and in the process win the Blue Bulls a bonus point and eventually a home final.

Jean de Villiers did one against New Zealand in the Tri-Nations when Dan Carter was the passer and De Villiers raced off 43 metres to score.

New Zealand were losing and time was running out when Dan Carter kicked a high, left-to-right diagonal, a perfect kick, which McCaw caught right in the corner. He dropped to ground for the try. South Africa won the match 32-29.

Pierre Spies got a remarkable one in the Super 14 Final when the Chiefs attacked and Spies intercepted and raced 75 metres down the field to score in the left corner. 

Riki Flutey chipped chased and then sweetly knocked the ball down to Shane Williams for a Lions try against the Springboks in Johannesburg.

Let’s choose one from each:

Individual Tries: Cedric Heymans (France)

Team Tries: Berrick Barnes (Australia)

Crucial Tries: Jaque Fourie (South Africa)

Adventurous Tries: Mils Muliaina (New Zealand)

Cheeky Tries: Victor Matfield (South Africa)

rugby365.com Try of the Year: Jaque Fourie, South Africa v Lions on June 27. It combined three categories – individual try, team try and crucial try.