Kieran Hardy has won the Guinness Six Nations Try of Round 3 award for his quick-thinking effort in Wales’ stunning victory against England at Principality Stadium.
The scrum-half’s second-half effort helped the hosts run out 40-24 winners in Cardiff as Wayne Pivac’s men maintained their unbeaten start to the 2021 Championship.
Hardy received almost half of the votes for his score to take the Try of the Round prize ahead of Ireland’s Hugo Keenan, England’s Anthony Watson and Johan Meyer of Italy.
Tries from Josh Adams and Liam Williams had already given Wales a 17-14 advantage at the half-time break before Hardy delivered his moment of magic in the 47th minute.
Given the No.9 shirt from the start in only his fourth cap, Hardy caught England completely off guard after Jonny Hill was penalised for an infringement at the breakdown.
Spotting that England had been slow in organising their defence, the 25-year-old took a quick tap penalty and used his pace to dart through a gap in the wall of white shirts.
Hardy stepped on the gas and left Tom Curry, Jamie George and Elliot Daly in his wake and he dived over the whitewash for a superb debut Championship try.
His Try of the Round victory means Wales have won the prize for all three rounds so far, with Hardy following in the footsteps of back-to-back winner Louis Rees-Zammit.
Hardy’s effort received 48.3 percent of the votes, more than 2,500 clear of his nearest rival Keenan, whose score for Ireland against Italy received 25.2 percent of the votes.
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Watson’s powerful try against Wales in the first half took third place with 16.9 percent of the votes while Meyer’s score against Ireland received 9.5 percent of the fans’ vote.
Wales have won all three of their games so far in the 2021 Guinness Six Nations and remain on course to complete the clean sweep, with Italy and France still to play.
Guinness Six Nations Try of Round 3 vote result
Kieran Hardy (WALES v England): 48.3% Hugo Keenan (Italy v IRELAND): 25.2% Anthony Watson (Wales v ENGLAND): 16.9% Johan Meyer (ITALY v Ireland): 9.5%
