Rugby Championship: Bryan Habana’s try-scoring record under threat as All Blacks speedster within striking distance
Split with Springboks legend Bryan Habana and All Black Rieko Ioane.
The 2024 Rugby Championship is nearly upon us as the best of the southern hemisphere come together in the fight for glory and bragging rights over six rounds of action.
As the tournament rolls in we take a closer look at some of the records that could be broken in this year’s edition, beginning with the legendary Bryan Habana’s try-scoring record.
Try scoring legends
Habana still holds the overall tier-one try-scoring record with 67 and a whopping 21 of those came in the Tri Nations, which then became the Rugby Championship in 2012 once Argentina was drafted into the tournament.
The Springbok centurion is one of the game’s all-time greats with his straight-line speed and spatial awareness key traits of his skill set that got him over the try-line on so many occasions.
Challengers
The top 10 list features many other greats of the game such as Ben Smith, Richie McCaw, Christian Cullen, Joe Rokocoko and Adam Ashley-Cooper, while there are two current All Blacks who are not far from Habana himself.
The closest of the challengers is Rieko Ioane, who sits on an impressive 18 tries in his Rugby Championship career thus far, which is just short of half of his 39 try haul across all competitions in his Test career.
Despite coming under some scrutiny of late around his role in the 13 shirt for the All Blacks, one would expect Ioane to have a real shot at surpassing the great Springbok and it would be done in far fewer games.
The only other active player in the top 10 is rather unsurprisingly Beauden Barrett, who even at the age of 33 is still turning just about anything he touches into gold. The oldest of the famous brothers has scored 16 tries in the tournament, meaning he would need a prolific campaign in 2024 to equal or pass Habana.
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Rugby Championship all-time to try scorers
1. Bryan Habana (South Africa) – 21
2=. Rieko Ioane* (New Zealand) – 18
2=. Ben Smith (New Zealand) – 18
4. Richie McCaw (New Zealand) – 17
5=. Beauden Barrett* (New Zealand) – 16
5=. Christian Cullen (New Zealand) – 16
7. Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand) – 15
8. Israel Folau (Australia) – 14
9=. Adam Ashley-Cooper (Australia) – 13
9=. Doug Howlett (New Zealand) – 13
9=. Julian Savea (New Zealand) – 13
