List of Six Nations Championship hat-tricks

Charles Wade, of England, scored the Championship's first hat-trick.

A hat-trick in rugby union, the scoring of three tries or three drop goals in a single match, has been achieved 52 times in the history of the Six Nations Championship. The annual competition, established in 1882, was originally known as the Home Nations Championship and contested between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It was expanded to the Five Nations when France joined in 1910,^{[upper-alpha 1]} and then to the Six Nations with the addition of Italy in 2000.^[2]

The first player to achieve the feat was Charles Wade, who was an Australian student at Oxford University when he was called up as a travelling reserve for England's match against Wales. When Philip Newton got lost on his way to the match, Wade was instated in his place.^[3] He scored three tries in England's 2–0 victory, which was the first match of the championship.^[4] At that time, a try by itself was not worth any points but allowed the team to try and kick a goal.^[5] George Lindsay scored five tries in Scotland's 4–0 win over Wales in 1887, the most tries scored by a single player in a Championship match.^[6]

Besides Lindsay, six players have scored more than three tries in a Championship match; of these Ian Smith is the only player to achieve the feat twice. He scored four tries in successive matches during the 1925 Five Nations Championship.^[7] Wales' Jehoida Hodges normally played as a forward, but after an injury to winger Tom Pearson during a match against England, Hodges was moved to the wing. Despite playing out of position, he scored a hat-trick in a 21–5 victory for Wales.^[8] As of 2016, the only forward to score a Championship hat-trick while actually playing in the forwards is Michel Crauste; he scored three tries for France in their 13–0 victory over England in 1962.^[9]

Four players have scored a hat-trick of drop goals: Pierre Albaladejo, Jean-Patrick Lescarboura, Diego Dominguez and Neil Jenkins.^[10] No Italian has scored a hat-trick of tries in the competition, with Dominguez's hat-trick of drop goals the only one by an Italian player. English players have scored the most hat-tricks with 15, while France and Ireland have conceded the most, with 11 each. Three players have scored a hat-trick and been on the losing side; Robert Montgomery in Ireland's 0–1 loss to Wales in 1887,^[11] Howard Marshall in England's 11–12 defeat to Wales in 1893,^[12] and Émile Ntamack in France's 33–34 loss to Wales in 1999.^[13] Lescarboura's hat-trick against England in 1985 and Jenkins' against Scotland in 2001, are the only times the feat has been achieved with the match ending in a draw.^[14][15] The most recent hat-trick was achieved by Jonathan Joseph for England against Italy on 14 February 2016.^[16]

Hat-tricks

Reggie Gibbs of Wales scored a hat-trick in both the 1910 and 1911 tournaments.

Brian O'Driscoll is the only Irishman to have scored two hat-tricks in the tournament's history.

Chris Ashton's four tries in 2011 against Italy is the most by one player in a single Championship match since 1969.

• All statistics are correct as of 8 June 2016

Key
^4	Player scored four tries
^5	Player scored five tries

Tries

Six Nations Championship try hat-tricks

No.	Player	For	Against	Result	Venue	Date
1	Wade, CharlesCharles Wade	England	Wales	2–0	St. Helen's, Swansea	16 December 1882
2	Lindsay, GeorgeGeorge Lindsay^5	Scotland	Wales	4–0	Raeburn Place, Edinburgh	26 February 1887
3	Montgomery, RobertRobert Montgomery	Ireland	Wales	0–1	Birkenhead Park	12 March 1887
4	Wotherspoon, WilliamWilliam Wotherspoon	Scotland	Ireland	14–0	Ballynafeigh, Belfast	21 February 1891
5	Marshall, HowardHoward Marshall	England	Wales	11–12	Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff	7 January 1893
6	Llewellyn, WillieWillie Llewellyn^4	Wales	England	26–3	St. Helen's, Swansea	7 January 1899
7	Hodges, JehoidaJehoida Hodges	Wales	England	21–5	St. Helen's, Swansea	10 January 1903
8	Williams, JohnnieJohnnie Williams	Wales	Ireland	29–0	Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff	9 March 1907
9	Gibbs, ReggieReggie Gibbs	Wales	France	49–14	St. Helen's, Swansea	1 January 1910
10	Tennent, JamesJames Tennent	Scotland	France	27–0	Inverleith, Edinburgh	22 January 1910
11	Williams, JohnnieJohnnie Williams	Wales	Ireland	19–3	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	12 March 1910
12	Gibbs, ReggieReggie Gibbs	Wales	Scotland	32–10	Inverleith, Edinburgh	4 February 1911
13	Stewart, BillBill Stewart	Scotland	France	21–3	Parc des Princes, Paris	1 January 1913
14	Coates, VincentVincent Coates	England	France	20–0	Twickenham, London	25 January 1913
15	Stewart, BillBill Stewart^4	Scotland	Ireland	29–14	Inverleith, Edinburgh	22 February 1913
16	Quinn, JosephJoseph Quinn	Ireland	France	24–0	Mardyke, Cork	24 March 1913
17	Lowe, CyrilCyril Lowe	England	Scotland	16–15	Inverleith, Edinburgh	21 March 1914
18	Lowe, CyrilCyril Lowe	England	France	39–13	Stade Olympique de Colombes	13 April 1914
19	Poulton-Palmer, RonaldRonald Poulton-Palmer^4	England	France	39–13	Stade Olympique de Colombes	13 April 1914
20	Williams, BrinleyBrinley Williams	Wales	Ireland	28–4	Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff	13 March 1920
21	Smith, IanIan Smith	Scotland	Wales	35–10	Inverleith, Edinburgh	2 February 1924
22	Jacob, JakeJake Jacob	England	France	19–7	Twickenham, London	23 February 1924
23	Smith, IanIan Smith^4	Scotland	France	25–4	Inverleith, Edinburgh	24 January 1925
24	Smith, IanIan Smith^4	Scotland	Wales	24–14	St. Helen's, Swansea	7 February 1925
25	Wallace, JohnnieJohnnie Wallace	Scotland	France	20–6	Stade Olympique de Colombes	2 January 1926
26	Davy, EugeneEugene Davy	Ireland	Scotland	14–11	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	22 February 1930
27	Byrne, SeamusSeamus Byrne	Ireland	Scotland	26–8	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	28 February 1953
28	Crauste, MichelMichel Crauste	France	England	13–0	Stade Olympique de Colombes	24 February 1962
29	Darrouy, ChristianChristian Darrouy	France	Ireland	24–5	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	26 January 1963
30	Richards, MauriceMaurice Richards^4	Wales	England	30–9	Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff	12 April 1969
31	Carleton, JohnJohn Carleton	England	Scotland	30–18	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	15 March 1980
32	Bonneval, ÉricÉric Bonneval	France	Scotland	28–22	Parc des Princes, Paris	7 March 1987
33	Oti, ChrisChris Oti	England	Ireland	35–3	Twickenham, London	19 March 1988
34	Tukalo, IwanIwan Tukalo	Scotland	Ireland	37–21	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	4 March 1989
35	Venditti, DavidDavid Venditti	France	Ireland	32–15	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	18 January 1997
36	Ntamack, ÉmileÉmile Ntamack	France	Wales	33–34	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	6 March 1999
37	Healey, AustinAustin Healey	England	Italy	59–12	Stadio Flamino, Rome	18 March 2000
38	O'Driscoll, BrianBrian O'Driscoll	Ireland	France	27–25	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	19 March 2000
39	Henderson, RobRob Henderson	Ireland	Italy	41–22	Stadio Flamino, Rome	3 February 2001
40	Greenwood, WillWill Greenwood	England	Wales	44–15	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	3 February 2001
41	O'Driscoll, BrianBrian O'Driscoll	Ireland	Scotland	43–22	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	2 March 2002
42	Robinson, JasonJason Robinson	England	Italy	50–9	Stadio Flamino, Rome	15 February 2004
43	Cueto, MarkMark Cueto	England	Italy	39–7	Twickenham, London	12 March 2005
44	Noon, JamieJamie Noon	England	Scotland	43–22	Twickenham, London	19 March 2005
45	Clerc, VincentVincent Clerc	France	Ireland	26–21	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	9 February 2008
46	Ashton, ChrisChris Ashton^4	England	Italy	59–13	Twickenham, London	12 February 2011
47	North, GeorgeGeorge North	Wales	Italy	61–20	Stadio Olimpico, Rome	21 March 2015
48	Joseph, JonathanJonathan Joseph	England	Italy	40–9	Stadio Olimpico, Rome	14 February 2016

Drop goals

Six Nations Championship drop goal hat-tricks

No.	Player	For	Against	Result	Venue	Date
1	Albaladejo, PierrePierre Albaladejo	France	Ireland	23–6	Stade Olympique de Colombes	9 April 1960
2	Lescarboura, Jean-PatrickJean-Patrick Lescarboura	France	England	9–9	Twickenham, London	2 February 1985
3	Domínguez, DiegoDiego Domínguez	Italy	Scotland	34–20	Stadio Flamino, Rome	5 February 2000
4	Jenkins, NeilNeil Jenkins	Wales	Scotland	28–28	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	17 February 2001

Multiple hat-tricks

Multiple hat-tricks

Player	No.	Years
Smith, IanIan Smith	3	1924, 1925
Williams, JohnnieJohnnie Williams	2	1907, 1910
Gibbs, ReggieReggie Gibbs	2	1910, 1911
Stewart, BillBill Stewart	2	1913
Lowe, CyrilCyril Lowe	2	1914
O'Driscoll, BrianBrian O'Driscoll	2	2000, 2002

Player hat-tricks by their national team

Player's hat-tricks by their national team

Team	Tries for	Tries against	Drop goals for	Drop goals against	Total for	Total against
England	16	4	0	1	16	5
Wales	9	8	1	0	10	8
Scotland	10	8	0	2	10	10
France	6	11	2	0	8	11
Ireland	7	10	0	1	7	11
Italy	0	7	1	0	1	7

See also

• List of Rugby World Cup hat-tricks

Footnotes

1. France were ejected from the competition in 1931 over allegations of professionalism, which was not sanctioned at the time. They were re-admitted in 1939.^[1]

Bibliography

• Smith, David; Williams, Gareth (1980). Fields of Praise: The Official History of The Welsh Rugby Union. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-0766-3.

References

General

• "Six Nations – Most tries scored". ESPN. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
• "Six Nations – Most drop goals". ESPN. Retrieved 17 November 2015.

Specific

1. Richards, Huw (24 February 2010). "Wooller inspires British Army triumph". ESPN. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
2. "Six Nations history". BBC Sport. 28 January 2002. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
3. Richards, Huw (22 January 2013). "England's early great three-quarter". ESPN. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
4. "Wales 0G – 2G England (FT)". ESPN. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
5. "Why a try?". England Rugby. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
6. "Five/Six Nations Records". Belfast Telegraph. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
7. Reed, Alasdair (1 March 2011). "Ian Smith's record safe as Scotland try hard but fail to cross line at Murrayfield". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
8. Smith & Williams 1980, p. 143.
9. Griffiths, John (8 February 2004). "The International Championship 1883 to 2003". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
10. "Six nations facts and figures". BBC Sport. 25 January 2007. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
11. "Ireland 0G–1G Wales". ESPN. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
12. "Elements leave their mark in Cardiff". ESPN. 13 February 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
13. Glover, Tim (8 March 1999). "The day Wales painted Paris red". The Independent. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
14. Proome, Jeremy (31 January 2014). "The day Andrew rescued England". SA Rugby Magazine. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
15. "Late Scottish surge frustrates Wales". BBC News. 17 February 2001. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
16. Hewett, Chris (14 February 2016). "Italy 9 England 40 match report: Jonathan Joseph hat-trick keep Eddie Jones' Six Nations campaign on course". The Independent. Retrieved 12 June 2016.