The Humble Drop Goal: 8 of the Best

The latest round of Aviva Premiership action saw London Irish edge a thrilling encounter versus Exeter Chiefs with the age old crowd favourite; a last play of the game Wilko-esque drop goal, supplied by from Shane Geraghty.

 The drop goal is a tough skill in and of itself, add to that the pressure of the clock ticking into the red and fifteen men charging at you to stop it and you can understand why a drop goal to clinch the win fills many rugby fans with excitement and reaffirms our love for the sport.

“It all happened so quickly,” man of the hour Geraghty said moments after the final whistle at the Madejski Stadium. “We were on our 22 with 30 seconds left in the game.

“We had planned to have a crack from deep and go for it but we got the penalty and the next minute just flew by.

“We had a good bit of action down the right hand side and they (Exeter) weren’t really competing as they were worried about the penalty.

“I wanted that drop goal early, I didn’t want to go 18 phases and have the whole of Exeter chasing me. That just seemed like the perfect moment to have it.”

In the wake of this particular match winner, what better time to cast an eye over some of the games most spectacular drop goals:

The first on our list is Zinzan Brooke’s 40m drop goal against England in the 1995 World Cup Semi-Final for New Zealand. 

It was during the reign of Jonah Lomu (he scored 4 tries this particular game), and to put another nail in the coffin, Zinzan showed off his behemoth boot in such a casual style, with New Zealand going on to win the game 45 - 29.

"I used to practice all the time in my backyard, you know left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot," said Brooke, who won the World Cup with New Zealand in 1987. 

"The moment I decided to do a drop goal was when it was actually bouncing along the ground and I thought, 'right, this is going to go through the posts'". 

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Our next infamous drop goal, features in the 2009 6 Nations. Ireland v Wales and Ronan O’Gara the man to etch his name firmly in rugby folklore. It may not have been the prettiest, famously described by Paul O’Connel as the ‘manky kick’ but it got there, and Ireland claimed their first Grand Slam since 1948.

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Jannie de Beer is a name that prompts horror in the hearts of many English rugby fans and at the Christmas parties is my go to ‘villain’ for the crowd favourite ‘names in the bowl’ game.  It was the 1999 World Cup Quarter-Final and England faced the Springboks. De Beer landed no less that four drop goals that game as England were sent crashing out 44 – 21 in Paris.

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Rob Andrew and ‘The Kick’ is next up. Extra time in the 1995 World Cup quarter final, England versus Australia. 22 – 22 after 80 minutes the game went into extra time and a 45 metre effort from Andrew saw England through.

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Stephen Larkham is next up, and the time he famously ‘de Beer-ed de Beer’ as John Taylor said in the commentary box that night at Twickenham in the 1999 World Cup semi-final. With the scores tied at 21 – 21 Larkham stepped up to slot a drop goal from 48 metres, one of only two drop goals in 102 tests fro the Wallabies.

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The 1995 Rugby World Cup was a pivotal time in the sport’s history as it transgressed the sporting world and flowed into the political realm, becoming a symbol of unity and hope for the Rainbow Nation. The timeless image of Nelson Mandela handing Francois Pienaar the William Webb Ellis trophy wearing the green and gold of the Springbok jersey would not have been possible, however, without a drop goal from Joel Stransky. It was a kick that won a nation a World Cup, but it meant so much more than that, and Stransky himself admitted how it changed his life forever.

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1997 saw the British and Irish Lions record a test series won over the Springboks. Again, this was achieved through the use of the drop kick, this time England Legend Jeremy Guscott the man to drive it between the sticks. The scores were tied at 15 – 15 and with minutes left on the clock Matt Dawson found Guscott in the pocket and the rest, as they say, is history.

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And final, no drop goal list is complete without Jonny Wilkinson, more specifically the drop goal that won England their first ever World Cup title in 2003.

It was a game that will always be remembered, it almost seemed scripted. A kicking battle between Wilkinson and Elton Flatley saw they game go into extra time, and it took until the final plays on the second half of extra time for Wilkinson, who had missed two attempts in the game already, to drop it onto his right foot and “drop for World Cup Glory” in the words of Ian Robertson.