Friday, February 10, 2012
John Leslie scores the fastest ever international try in 1999
Wales face Scotland on Sunday so today we look back on a previous meeting between the two, going all the way back to 1999 and the last ever Five Nations tournament. On that day Scotland got off to a start that they could only have dreamed of.
Scotland's Kiwi player John Leslie scored within 10 seconds of kick-off at Murrayfield, the fastest ever try scored from kickoff. Leslie and his brother Martin both qualified to play for them thanks to a Scottish grandfather, and made their debuts just a year before he scored this historic try.
"You can't get a better start than that," said Jim Telfer, head coach at the time.
"It's so important in international rugby, especially if things haven't been going so well, to get ahead of the game. Wales were dangerous early on but very predictable towards the end," he added, after Scotland won the game 33-20 following a resilient comeback from the Welsh.
Leslie gave them the ideal start as he competed well for the ball from the kickoff and actually ended up snatching it right from the grasp of another New Zealander, Shane Howarth.
"It was just one of those things where the ball fell into my lap," Leslie said.
Scotland won the Championship that year, thanks in part to a memorable late try against England, scored by now legendary Wales and British & Irish Lions center, Scott Gibbs.
According to some, Leslie's feat is matched only by England's Bart Price, who scored against Wales in 1923. It's difficult to know how accurate the timing was back then, so it's safe to say that Leslie's record is safe, and most likely won't be beaten anytime soon.
Check out the related posts for more incredibly quick tries from the kickoff
Posted at 6:02 pm | 17 comments
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Related Posts
The fastest ever tries scored from the kickoff
Scott Gibbs and that famous win over England in '99
Fastest ever Guinness Premiership Try
Posted in Great Tries, See it to Believe it
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Viewing 17 comments
Drinu February 10, 2012 8:34 pm
Pretzel February 11, 2012 12:11 am
FaninJapan February 11, 2012 12:33 am
Yes Bieber O'Connor's try was very quick (maybe a world record or not I'm not sure) but note that it was scored in 2010 or 2011. This John Leslie try was scored in 1999 so that would make it the World Record Fastest try for the time.
jumping04 February 11, 2012 10:59 pm
Drinu February 13, 2012 12:13 pm
Rugbydump February 13, 2012 6:19 pm
Pretzel February 14, 2012 12:27 am
stroudos February 10, 2012 9:12 pm
Do you know what stands out? "He's a big fellow at six feet two"! Hard to believe this is not much over ten years ago, isn't it, when wings and scrum-halves are now very often that size...
Pretzel February 11, 2012 12:07 am
Wonderful to hear Bill McLaren, I chuckled at the "barely a minute gone" :/ well if its from kick off it would be barely 10-15 seconds I'd have thought...
cheyanqui February 11, 2012 1:52 am
And of course, any video with Bill McLaren is Rugbydump worthy. I could listen to him read his grocery list or the Edinburgh phone book.
Pretzel February 11, 2012 12:58 pm
LOL, BRILLIANT COMMENT!
Pretzel February 12, 2012 7:16 pm
muhaa February 12, 2012 8:17 pm
nhunter February 14, 2012 12:52 pm
So as far as I'm aware, this is the quickest try ever in a match.
This was, of course, the year when Scotland became 5Nations champions for ever, after the final game in Paris, where there were 4 tries scored in 20 mins, so we'll ignore the following 12 years. :)
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