The contenders for the International Rugby Players’ Association (IRPA) Try of the Year 2014 have been revealed by World Rugby, with the winner to be announced by the end of the year.
The five players are South Africa’s Francois Hougaard and Cornal Hendricks, Welshman Jamie Roberts, Canada’s IRB Women’s Player of the Year 2014 Magali Harvey and England’s Jonny May.
The quintet of tries were selected by the IRPA Try of Year panel of former players in Samoa’s Seilala Mapusua, All Black Jeff Wilson, Ireland’s Alan Quinlan and Dan Parks of Scotland.
WATCH THE FIVE SHORTLISTED TRIES >>
Roberts was the man on the end of a flowing team try which took Wales from deep in their own half to the Scottish line, Liam Williams and Taulupe Faletau playing their part to send the centre over in the RBS Six Nations win over Scotland at the Millennium Stadium in March.
Hendricks then marked his Springbok debut with a try in the first Test against Wales in June, the try coming after Willie le Roux drew defenders to him before spreading the ball wide to the right for the wing to dot down.
Within metres of their own line, Canada pushed France off a scrum and quickly spread the ball wide to Harvey, who raced to halfway and then stepped the French cover defence inside out before racing clear to score a try that helped put her side into a first Women’s Rugby World Cup final in August.
Hougaard brought the Ellis Park crowd to its feet, the scrum-half diving under the posts to finish off a move that had begun deep in South Africa’s half and involved all of the backline as the Springboks ended a losing run against New Zealand with a 27-25 win in The Rugby Championship.
The most recent of the shortlist, May received the ball on halfway and ran around Conrad Smith and Israel Dagg to score his first Test try and give England the perfect start against world champions New Zealand at Twickenham earlier this month.
In support of the initial nomination process, fans now have the chance to have their say on the shortlist via social media. The results of the public vote will be considered by the panel when finalising the winner.
World Rugby Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: “These players have all given enormous enjoyment to fans around the world with their skill. These tries are testament to Rugby’s character-building values of teamwork and enjoyment and I am looking forward to seeing the result of the fan voting.”
