Nice try!

Press, 3 August 1983, Page 22

Nice try!

Enthusiastic reports from Sydney hailing David Campese as the new joint world record-holder for tries in a rugby test are incorrect. Some Australians recognise Greg Cornelsen’s four tries against the All Blacks at Eden Park in 1978 as the record, and Campese recently emulated this feat in playing for the Wallabies against the American Eagles.

Unfortunately, the effort is unlikely to achieve wider recognition, because only the Australians recognise the recent test as a full international.

In any case, there are nine other instances of a player scoring four tries in a test between International Rugby Board countries; Cornelsen’s was the tenth. They include Duncan McGregor, the swift right wing of the 1905 All Blacks, Willie Llewellyn, the diminutive ‘Welsh wing who was the last survivor of the famous 1905 Wales • New Zealand game, and lan Smith, who achieved the feat twice for Scotland in 1925. However, none of these men hold the record. That belongs to Douglas Lambert, a big wing from the Harlequins club, who scored five tries for England against France in 1907. Before modern scoring values were adopted, George Lindsay (Scotland) scored five tries against Wales in 1887, but Lambert is generally accepted as the sole record-holder.