Worcester Warriors have been one of the league’s strugglers over recent seasons, usually battling with Leicester Tigers to see who finishes above the other at the bottom of the league.
This try, scored by star winger Perry Humphreys against Exeter Chiefs, was not perhaps the most special try you will see this season, but it has been included as a try analysis on Total Rugby Analysis because of the way it was scored.
We see how Worcester are attacking up the pitch, and Exeter are defending with a high back line. However, some excellent interplay between the Warriors’ more central players has created a gap for Humphreys to run through, which is where we find ourselves in this image.
With the ball in his hand, Humphreys, in the blue circle, is now behind the main Exeter defensive effort, but still has a lot of work to do. To get to the try line, he needs to get past the two Chiefs defenders coming across to block off his route to the try line, hoping to tackle him and allow the other Exeter players to get back and help out.
However, Humphreys angles his run so that he is running almost diagonally, as you can see from the blue arrow. This means he is running into the one spot where he can’t be tackled, and his pace means he just beats both Exeter defenders there, getting through before they can take him to ground, and going over to score the try.
The thing that makes this try noteworthy is the way that Humphreys knew exactly where to run to in order to get past the double threat from Exeter. The white arrows show us how neither defender made a mistake with their movements, but it was just the sheer pace from the Warriors winger that beat them, and the fact that he angled his run towards the one area where he knew they couldn’t reach him in time.
