It's been a bumper year for the rugby family on social media in 2017, with World Rugby platforms alone receiving 320 million video views. As we near 2018, we've delved into the stats and picked out five of the best performing videos from the year.

1. Black Ferns Haka in the Women's Rugby World Cup 2017 semi-final

It was a record-breaking year for women's rugby and across WRWC 2017 with over 70 million fans reached across the globe through World Rugby social platforms. World Rugby Team of the Year New Zealand ran out eventual winners but it was their Haka in the semi-final against USA that turned out to be our most popular video of the year, with over 21 million video views.

2. Belgium v Netherlands: U20 penalty shootout 

A rare occurrence in rugby but when they do happen, penalty shootouts are thrilling entertainment. After the match finished 30-30, Belgium and the Netherlands went head-to-head in the Rugby Europe U20 15s Championship. Belgium ended up eventual winners, 5-4, and the video received 1.24 million views.

3. Georgia's incredible try against Canada

Georgia played Canada in a November international in Tbilisi, beating the North American side 54-22. However, in their six-try win it was this stunner from full-back Soso Matiashvili that grabbed the headlines and received 825,000 views. 

4 New Zealand U20s inspire the next generation  

In a year of dominance for New Zealand, their U20s produced some of the finest rugby on the international circuit. Their Haka, however, didn't just inspire millions around the world to pick up the oval ball, but also young fans in the stadium who couldn't help but get involved. The video received 1.72 million views in total. 

5. Two of the fastest rugby sevens players go head-to-head

At the HSBC USA Sevens in Las Vegas back in March, fans were treated to two of the fastest players in the game in full flight. USA's Perry Baker, now the World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year 2017, and all-time world series top try scorer Dan Norton went head-to-head in a video that received 754,000 views.