New Zealand vs Australia

Lore & Background

The team's first match took place in 1884 in New South Wales and their first international test match in 1903 against Australia in Sydney. The following year New Zealand hosted their first home test, a match against a British Isles side in Wellington. There followed a 34–game tour of Europe and North America in 1905, where New Zealand suffered only one defeat: their first test loss, against Wales. New Zealand's early uniforms consisted of a black jersey with a silver fern and white shorts. By the 1905 tour they were wearing all black, except for the silver fern, and the name 'All Blacks' dates from this time. The team perform a haka before every match. Traditionally the All Blacks use Te Rauparaha's haka Ka Mate, although players have also performed Kapa o Pango since 2005.

Reader's Guide

The All Blacks compete with Argentina, Australia and South Africa in the Rugby Championship, and have won the trophy twenty times in the competition's thirty–year history. The team has completed a Grand Slam tour against the four Home Nations four times (1978, 2005, 2008 and 2010). World Rugby has named New Zealand the World Rugby Team of the Year ten times since the award was initiated in 2001, and an All Black has won the World Rugby Player of the Year award ten times over the same period. Nineteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall Of Fame.

Did You Know?

• The All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, 2011, and 2015.
• They were the first country to retain the Rugby World Cup.
• Since the introduction of the World Rugby Rankings in 2003, New Zealand has held the number-one ranking longer than all other teams combined.
• They jointly hold the men's record for the most consecutive test match wins for a tier-one ranked nation, along with England.