Introduction of rugby to New Zealand Rugby union, known almost universally in New Zealand as just "rugby", was introduced to the nation by
Charles Monro in 1870; he had discovered the sport while completing his studies at
Christ's College in Finchley, England. The first recorded game in New Zealand took place in May 1870 in the city of
Nelson, between the Nelson rugby club and Nelson College. The first provincial union, the
Canterbury Rugby Football Union, was formed in 1879, and New Zealand's first internationals were played in 1882 when the "
Waratahs" from New South Wales toured the country. The Australian team did not face a New Zealand national team but played seven provincial sides; the tourists won four games and lost three. Two years later, the first New Zealand team to travel overseas toured New South Wales, winning all eight of their games. A privately organised British team, which later became the
British & Irish Lions, toured New Zealand in 1888. The visitors only played provincial sides and no
test matches were played. Wales and Scotland were represented in the British team, but the players were drawn mainly from Northern England.
International competition begins In 1892, following the canvassing of provincial administrators by
Ernest Hoben, the
New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU) was formed by the majority of New Zealand's provincial unions, but did not include Canterbury,
Otago or
Southland. The first officially sanctioned New Zealand side
toured New South Wales in 1893, where the
Thomas Ellison captained team won nine of their ten matches. The following year New Zealand played its first home "international" game, losing 6–8 to New South Wales. The team's first true test match occurred against
Australia on 15 August 1903 at the
Sydney Cricket Ground in front of over 30,000 spectators and resulted in a 22–3 victory. that toured the British Isles, France and the United States during 1905–06. The team won 34 of their 35 tour matches. A representative New Zealand team first toured the British Isles in 1905. The side is now known as the "
Originals", as the "All Blacks" name emerged during this tour when, according to team member
Billy Wallace, a London newspaper reported that the New Zealanders played as if they were "all backs". Wallace claimed that because of a typographical error, subsequent references were to "All Blacks". This account is most likely a myth: because of their black playing strip, the side was probably referred to as the
Blacks before they left New Zealand. Even though the name All Blacks most likely existed before the trip, the tour did popularise it. That game became known as
The match of the Century, and has entered into the folklore of both countries. In contrast to the success of the Originals on the field, the team did antagonise some in the
Home Nations' rugby establishment; both administrators and the press complained that the All Blacks did not play the game within the amateur and gentlemanly spirit promoted by the
International Rugby Football Board. This complaint continued to dog New Zealand teams until the 1930s. The success of the Originals had uncomfortable consequences for the amateur NZRFU. In 1907, a party of professional players was assembled to tour the British Isles and play
rugby leaguea professional offshoot of rugby union that was played by clubs that split from England's
Rugby Football Union (RFU) due to disagreements over financial compensation for players. When the "
All Golds", as the team came to be known, returned they established
rugby league in New Zealand, and a large number of players switched to the professional code. English and Welsh authorities were alarmed by the threat of professionalism to rugby in New Zealand, and in 1908 an Anglo-Welsh side undertook a tour to New Zealand to help promote the amateur values under which they believed sport should be played. The tourists were defeated 2–0 in the three-test series by New Zealand, but the Anglo-Welsh did manage to draw the second test 3–3.
Development of a legacy International rugby was suspended during the First World War, but a
New Zealand Services team did compete in inter-services competition known as the King's Cup. After their departure from Europe the side toured South Africa before their return to New Zealand, and that tour paved the way for a
South African team to tour New Zealand in 1921. The Springboksas the South African team is knownplayed New Zealand in a test series that ended
all square. New Zealand conducted a return tour to South Africa in 1928, and the test series was again drawn; both teams winning two tests each. The 1924 All Black tourists to the British Isles and France were dubbed "
the Invincibles" because they won every game. However, the team was deprived of a potential
grand slam when Scotland refused to play them because they were upset the tour was organised through the RFU rather than the IRFB. The first British Isles side since 1908 toured New Zealand in 1930. Although the Lions won the first test, the home side regrouped and went on to win the series 3–1. New Zealand toured the British Isles again in 1935–36, losing only three gamesincluding two testsduring a 30-match tour. In one of these losses,
Alexander Obolensky famously scored two tries to help England to a 13–0 win; their first over New Zealand. In 1937, South Africa toured New Zealand and decisively won the test series despite losing the first test; this
1937 South African team was described as the best team ever to leave New Zealand. It was not until 1949 that New Zealand next played the Springboks when they
toured South Africa with
Fred Allen as captain. Although each test against South Africa was very close, New Zealand lost the series 0–4. As part of this 25-match, 4-test series, an All Blacks 'second string' side travelled up to Southern Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe) to face the
Rhodesia representative side in two non-Test Internationals. The result of the
first match saw Rhodesia run out winners, 10–8. Three days later, the second match resulted in a 3–3 draw. Two of the Rhodesian players were later capped for South Africa (being eligible due to Rhodesia's treatment as a province of
South Africa, for rugby reasons) in the All Blacks second test of the tour. No International caps were awarded to either side for these two matches. before a 1932 test against
Australia At the same time as an All Black team was touring South Africa, Australia were touring New Zealand. The two tours coincided because
Māori players were not able to go to South Africa at the time due to apartheid (the All Black team in South Africa refused to do the haka in protest), meaning the Australians played against a New Zealand team made up of the best Māori and the reserve non-Māori players, while the South Africans encountered the best
pākehā (white) players. New Zealand then lost their second test 9–16, giving Australia a
Bledisloe Cup series win in New Zealand for the first time. 1949 was an
annus horribilis for the All Blacks as they lost all six of their test matches, and the experience of playing two test series simultaneously has not been repeated. The two consecutive series losses to South Africa made their
1956 tour of New Zealand highly anticipated. New Zealand were captained by Bob Duff and coached by
Bob Stuart, and their 3–1 series win was their first over the Springboks and the Springboks' first series loss that century. During the series, New Zealand introduced
Don Clarke, and brought prop
Kevin Skinner out of retirement to help secure the win. Skinner, a former New Zealand boxing champion, had retired from international rugby, but was convinced to return for the third and fourth tests. One reason for Skinner's selection was to "sort out" the South African props, while Clarke become known as "The Boot" for his goal kicking. New Zealand's 3–1 series win over the Lions in 1959 proved to be the start of a dominant period in All Black rugby. This was followed by the 1963–64 tour to Britain and Ireland, led by
Wilson Whineray, in which New Zealand were deprived of a Grand Slam by a scoreless draw with Scotland. The only loss on this tour was to
Newport RFC, who won 3–0 at
Rodney Parade,
Newport on 30 October 1963. The
1967 side won three tests against the home nations, but was unable to play
Ireland because of a
foot-and-mouth scare. This was also the longest test winning streak by any nation at the time; it was equalled by the Springboks in 1998, and surpassed by
Lithuania in 2010. NZ then lost
the 1970 away series in South Africa. Although the 1966 Lions had been defeated 0–4 in their New Zealand tour, there was a reversal of fortune five years later when the
1971 Lions, under the captaincy of Welshman
John Dawes, beat New Zealand in a test series, which remains the Lions' only series victory in New Zealand. The 1972–3 tourists narrowly missed a Grand Slam with a draw against Ireland. In 1978,
Graham Mourie captained New Zealand to their first Grand Slam, including a 13–12 victory over Wales. That game generated controversy after New Zealand won as the result of a late penalty. Lock
Andy Haden had dived out of a
line-out in an attempt to earn a penalty, but referee Roger Quittenden insisted the penalty was against Welsh lock
Geoff Wheel for jumping off the shoulder of
Frank Oliver. New Zealand's only loss on the tour was the famous 12–0 defeat by Irish province
Munster at
Thomond Park. A play that focused on the loss was later written by
John Breen, called
Alone it Stands.
Controversial tours prior to a New Zealand match during the
1981 Springbok tour For the
1960 All Blacks tour of South Africa, the South African authorities insisted that Maori players be excluded from the team. The subsequent controversy led to the New Zealand Rugby Union refusing any other tour of the country for the following 10 years until the
1970 tour, when
Maori players were accepted as "
honorary whites". The
1976 All Blacks tour of apartheid South Africa generated much controversy and led to the boycott of the
1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal by 33 African nations after the
IOC refused to ban the team. New Zealand again failed to win the test series in South Africa, and did not secure another series victory until 1996, after the fall of
apartheid and the introduction of neutral referees. The 1976 tour contributed to the
Gleneagles Agreement being adopted by the Commonwealth Heads of State in 1977. during their
1985 tour of Argentina The
1981 South African tour to New Zealand sparked
a protest movement against South Africa's apartheid policy; this type of protest had not been seen in New Zealand since the
1951 waterfront dispute. The NZRU had invited the Springboks to tour because the
Muldoon government refused to involve politics in sport. Although New Zealand won the test series, two of the tour's provincial games were cancelled and the whole tour was marred by violence and protest. The third and final test match of the tour is sometimes known as the Flour Bomb test, as an anti-apartheid activist in a Cessna light aircraft dropped leaflets, flares, a parachute-supported banner reading "
Biko", and flour bombs, into Auckland's
Eden Park throughout the match, felling a New Zealand player. The country experienced unrest during the tour, which had a significant impact on New Zealand society. The 1985 All Blacks tour to South Africa was cancelled after
legal action on the grounds that it would breach the NZRU's constitution. Those that participated in the tour received a ban for two tests from the NZRU when they returned to New Zealand. Allegations that players received payment for the tour were never proved.
Early World Cups New Zealand hosted and won the
inaugural World Cup in 1987 beating
France 29–9 in the
final. New Zealand conceded only 52 points and scored 43 tries in six games en route to the title, beating
Italy,
Fiji,
Argentina, Scotland, Wales and France. The All Blacks suffered a dual blow in early-mid 1990. Undisputed test fullback
John Gallagher switched codes and signed to play with
English rugby league club
Leeds. This came after his
1989 tour understudy
Matthew Ridge had signed to play rugby league with Sydney-based club
Manly-Warringah less than a week earlier. Around this time union also lost other goal-kicking All Blacks to rugby league including
John Schuster (
Newcastle Knights in Australia),
Frano Botica (English club
Wigan) and
Kurt Sherlock (Sydney club
Eastern Suburbs). New Zealand rugby also lost
Waikato goal kicking fullback
Daryl Halligan who signed to play league for the
North Sydney Bears. As it turned out, they were also very close to losing
Zinzan Brooke who was set to join Ridge at Manly when (according to Ridge) a personal dispute between the two saw Brooke back out on a signed contract with Manly (allegedly worth
AU$100,000 per season) to stay in rugby union. By the
1991 World Cup New Zealand were an ageing side, co-coached by
Alex Wyllie and
John Hart. After beating hosts England in the tournament opener, they struggled during pool matches against the
United States and Italy, and won their quarter-final against
Canada. They were then knocked out by eventual winners Australia 16–6 in their semi-final at
Lansdowne Road. In the wake of the tournament, there were many retirements, including coach Wyllie, who had enjoyed an 86 per cent win rate during 29 tests in charge.
Laurie Mains replaced Wyllie in 1992, and was given the job of preparing the side for the
1995 event in South Africa. New Zealand were again one of the favourites to take the championship. Their status as favourites was enhanced when a young
Jonah Lomu scored four tries against England in the 45–29 semi-final win. They managed to take hosts South Africa to extra time in the final, before losing 12–15 to
Joel Stransky's
drop goal.
Professionalism The professional era in rugby union began in 1995, spurred by creation of the
SANZAR group (a combination of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia) which was formed with the purpose of selling broadcast rights for two new competitions, the domestic
Super 12 competition and the Tri-Nations. After a 1996 Tri-Nations match hosted by South Africa, won 29–18 by New Zealand, preceded a separate three-match test series between the two sides. Under new coach
John Hart and the captaincy of
Sean Fitzpatrick, New Zealand won a test series in South Africa for the first time. Fitzpatrick rated the series win higher than the 1987 World Cup victory in which he had participated. In 1998 New Zealand lost all five tests in the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup series (two to South Africa and three to Australia), the first time they had lost four tests in succession since 1949. The following year they suffered their worst test loss, 7–28 to Australia in Sydney. At the
1999 World Cup later that year, the All Blacks dominated their pool, handing England a 16–30 defeat at
Twickenham. They advanced past Scotland 30–18 in the quarter-finals to play France at Twickenham. After New Zealand finished the first half 17–10 ahead, Despite losing to England earlier in the year, the All Blacks entered the
2003 World Cup as one of the favourites and dominated their pool, running up wins against Italy, Canada and
Tonga, before winning one of the most competitive matches of the tournament against Wales. They defeated South Africa in their quarter-final, a team they had never beaten at the World Cup, 29–9, but lost to Australia 10–22 in the semi-final in Sydney. Following the team's lacklustre showing in the tournament, the NZRU terminated Mitchell's contract and installed
Graham Henry as national coach.
Henry era Graham Henry's tenure as coach began with a double victory over 2003 Rugby World Cup winners England in 2004. The two games had an aggregate score of 72–15, and England were kept try-less. Despite the winning start to Henry's tenure, the Tri-Nations was a mixed success with two wins and two losses. The competition was the closest ever, bonus points decided the outcome, and New Zealand finishing last. The 2004 season finished with three wins in Europe, including a record 45–6 victory over France under new captain and outside centre
Tana Umaga. 2005 saw New Zealand host the touring
British & Irish Lions, steered by World Cup-winning English coach
Clive Woodward, and featuring a number of Northern Hemisphere stars including
Jonny Wilkinson. New Zealand won all three games easily, with a young Dan Carter turning in a masterclass in the second test. The series was marred by an incident in the first test after the Lions captain, Irish centre
Brian O'Driscoll, was upended in an aggressive clearout by Tana Umaga and
Keven Mealamu. O'Driscoll suffered a dislocated shoulder and missed the rest of the tour as a result. Match footage was inconclusive at the time, and both Umaga and Mealamu escaped serious sanction. O'Driscoll and the Lions management maintained it was a deliberate
spear tackle, and the controversy both tainted the All Blacks' series victory and continued for some years afterward. That same year, they also won the Tri-Nations, and achieved a second Grand Slam over the Home Nations for the first time since 1978. They went on to sweep the major IRB (now World Rugby)
awards in which they were named: Team of the Year, Henry was named Coach of the Year, and first five-eighth
Dan Carter was Player of the Year. The following year they again took the Tri-Nations Series after winning their first five matches, three against Australia and two against South Africa. They lost their final match of the series against South Africa. They completed their end of year tour unbeaten, with record away wins over France, England and Wales. New Zealand were named 2006 IRB Team of the Year and were nominated for the Laureus World Sports Award for the second time, while flanker and newly appointed captain
Richie McCaw was named IRB Player of the Year for the first time. The 2007 season started off with two
mid-year tests against France. New Zealand won the tests 42–11 at Eden Park and 61–10 at Westpac Stadium. A third game, against Canada, resulted in a 64–13 win, although the game was more competitive than the scoreline indicated. New Zealand's first
Tri-Nations game of 2007 was against the Springboks in Durban, South Africa. New Zealand scored two tries in the final fifteen minutes of the game to win 26–21. The following week against the Wallabies at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground the Wallabies upset New Zealand to win 20–15. The All Blacks won their following home games to successfully defend the Tri-Nations Series for 2007. New Zealand entered the
2007 Rugby World Cup as favourites, and topped their pool, beating Scotland, Italy, Romania and Portugal by at least 40 points. However, they then suffered a defeat by hosts France in the quarter-finals in Cardiff. Following the loss to France coach Graham Henry's job was reappointed amid vocal debate and comment, despite
Robbie Deans being a strong contender. in the
2011 Rugby World Cup The 2008 season started with three
mid-year tests against Ireland and England, all of which New Zealand won. New Zealand played their first
Tri-Nations game against South Africa in Wellington, winning 19–8, but a week later at
Carisbrook in Dunedin they lost to South Africa 28–30, ending a 30-match winning streak at home. New Zealand played their next Tri-Nations match on 26 July against Australia in Sydney, losing 19–34 but a week later against Australia in New Zealand won 39–10. New Zealand played their final match on 13 September against Australia at
Suncorp Stadium in
Brisbane winning 28–24 and retaining the Bledisloe Cup and the Tri-Nations. The All Blacks opened the 2009 season with a 22–27 loss to France at Carisbrook, but defeated them 14–10 in Wellington a week later. On points difference, France won the Dave Gallaher Cup for the first time. A week later the All Blacks defeated Italy 27–6 in Christchurch. They finished second in the
Tri-Nations Series, behind South Africa who lost only one game, and ended the series with a 33–6 win over Australia in Wellington. In 2010, the All Blacks won the Tri-Nations Series for the tenth time after three successive victories against South Africa, and won the Bledisloe Cup after consecutive victories against Australia. An undefeated streak in tests that began in 2009 reached 15 matches. Despite losing the 2011 Tri-Nations after a loss to Australia in Brisbane, they still entered the
2011 Rugby World Cup as one of the favourites. The All Blacks went through their pool matches undefeated, and after defeating Argentina, and then Australia, faced France in the final. New Zealand scored one try and a penalty to narrowly win 8–7. Henry stepped down as coach following the World Cup, and was replaced as head coach by his assistant
Steve Hansen.
Hansen era The Tri-Nations was expanded to include Argentina in 2012, and subsequently renamed The Rugby Championship. The All Blacks went undefeated in the inaugural tournament, and went through the year unbeaten until their last match of the year, where they lost to England at Twickenham. In 2013 New Zealand hosted France in a three-match seriestheir first meeting since the 2011 World Cup final. They won all three tests, before going unbeaten in the
2013 Rugby Championship. In November 2013, New Zealand became the first rugby nation in the professional era to achieve a 100 per cent record in a calendar year. At the
2014 Rugby Championship, the All Blacks drew with Australia and lost to South Africa in the away matches, but won the other four matches and the tournament. At the shortened
2015 Rugby Championship, the All Blacks lost to Australia and was runner-up in the competition. They did, however achieve a significant return victory in the second Bledisloe test that year to retain the trophy. The team entered the
2015 Rugby World Cup and again went undefeated in their pool matches. They defeated France 62–13 in the quarter-finals, South Africa 20–18 in the semi-finals, and Australia 34–17 in the
final to become the first nation to retain the World Championship title and the first to win the
Rugby World Cup three times. The All Blacks went undefeated at the
2016 Rugby Championship, claiming bonus points at each match, under new captain and Number 8, Kieran Read and vice-captain and fullback Ben Smith. Smith and wing Israel Dagg were also the joint highest try scorers in the competition with five each, while fly-half
Beauden Barrett was the highest points scorer of the competition with 81 in total. The autumn of 2016 witnessed an historic defeat, with the All Blacks enduring their first ever loss to Ireland after 111 years of competition, going down by 29–40 at
Soldier Field in Chicago. New Zealand redeemed the loss by defeating Ireland in Dublin in the return game two weeks later, by 21–9. In 2017, the
British & Irish Lions toured New Zealand for the second time in the professional era. The series finished in a draw, with the All Blacks and Lions recording 1–1–1. The All Blacks had won the first test 30–15, the Lions took the second test 24–21, and the final test was drawn 15–15. Like the 2005 tour, this Lions series was dogged by controversy, with the Lions' tactics (under expat Kiwi Coach
Warren Gatland), the tone of local media coverage, the Red Card awarded to Sonny Bill Williams in the second test and the refereeing of French officials Romain Poite and Jerome Garces all hotly debated. The drawn series, combined with the loss to Ireland to previous year led some in the media to claim that the team were on the slide, and that the Northern Hemisphere sides were catching up. However they went on to go undefeated in the Rugby Championship 2017 season and also securing the Bledisloe Cup against rivals Australia after defeating the Aussies twice in the Rugby Championship. In October, New Zealand suffered a surprise 18–23 loss to Australia, in the final Bledisloe game of the year at
Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. The autumn saw the All Blacks defeat a
Barbarians team 32–21, France 38–18, Scotland 22–17 and Wales 33–18 to end the 2017 season. At the start of the 2018 season, the All Blacks saw off a touring French side in a 3–0 series victory, and won their first games of the
Rugby Championship against Australia by 38–13 and 40–12 to keep the Bledisloe Cup for another year. Another easy win against Argentina by 46–24 followed, however the All Blacks were subsequently beaten at home in Wellington by South Africa for the first time since 2009, losing by 34–36 in a tightly contested game, before again beating Argentina by 35–17. In the return match against South Africa in Pretoria, the All Blacks trailed for much of the game but produced a thrilling comeback late the second half to win by 32–30. They went on to post another crushing win over Australia by 37–20 in Yokohama, to confirm a Bledisloe whitewash for the year. A development side was left behind to pummel
Japan 69–31, while the first team travelled to Europe for the autumn internationals. That series proved a relatively difficult one for the All Blacks, with a single-point victory over England (16–15) in a very closely fought test, followed by a second-ever loss to Ireland by 9–16 in a cauldron atmosphere at the
Aviva Stadium in Dublin. They went on to thrash Italy by 66–3 to finish their season with a win. 2019 was a mixed year for the All Blacks, starting their campaign with an unconvincing 16 - 20 win over a tough Argentine side, and a 16 all draw against the Springboks. However, the next week they were given their joint worst loss in their history, once again to the Wallabies, 26 - 47, after Scott Barrett was sent off. They got back on track, showcasing the form they have been in the past years, with a 36 - 0 shutout in their rematch at Eden Park to retain the Bledisloe Cup, and finished their season with a 92 - 7 pummelling against Tonga. The 2019 Rugby World Cup saw New Zealand face off against South Africa. They won, 23 - 13 in Yokohama, then notched wins up on Canada and Namibia, scoring a total of 135 points in the 2 games. In the quarter-final, they faced off against Ireland in Chofu, dominating from start to finish and prevailing 46 - 14. The team's run ended in the semi-finals with a 7 - 19 loss to England in Yokohama, which ended their chances of a third consecutive world title, or "three-peat". This was the team's first World Cup defeat in 20 matches stretching back over twelve years. New Zealand finished their campaign with a 40 - 17 win over Wales in Chofu to claim the bronze medal. Hansen retired after the World Cup, along with many All Blacks veterans, most notably captain Kieran Read, Owen Franks and Ben Smith. Ian Foster was appointed as the new All Blacks coach.
Foster Era match between
France and New Zealand.
2020 Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Rugby Championship was cancelled. Instead, a Tri-Nations revival tournament was held from October to December 2020. Two warm-up
Bledisloe Cup matches were held before that, the first was a (16–16) draw in
Wellington and the second a (27–7) win in
Auckland. They then travelled over to Australia for the Tri-Nations, where they opened by securing the Bledisloe Cup with a (43–5) victory over
Australia in
Sydney but going on to lose to them a week later (22–24) in
Brisbane. The All Blacks lost a week later to
Argentina (15–25) in
Parramatta which was their first ever defeat to the Los Pumas and the first time they had lost back-to-back test matches since 2011. Thanks to a 38–0 win against Argentina two weeks later in
Newcastle, the All Blacks won the
Tri-Nations. They ended the 2020 season with three wins, two losses and a draw.
2021 The All Blacks opened their 2021 campaign by easily defeating Tonga (102–0) in Auckland, followed by two wins against Fiji (57–23) in
Dunedin and (60–13) in
Hamilton. They opened their Bledisloe Cup campaign by defeating Australia at
Eden Park (33–25). The All Blacks then went onto defeat the Wallabies 2 more times, (57–22) at Eden Park again and (38–21) in
Perth to retain the Bledisloe Cup. They defeated Argentina twice by comfortable margins, (39–0) in the
Gold Coast and (36–13) in Brisbane. Against
South Africa, their record was split (1-1), with New Zealand winning in the 100th Test Match between the two countries in a historic (19–17) victory in
Townsville, with the Springboks winning a week later by (29–31) in the Gold Coast. They retained the
Freedom Cup and they went on to win the
Rugby Championship and finish the competition with a (5–1) record. In their first Northern Hemisphere Tour since 2018, the All Blacks played five matches and finished with a record of (3–2). They defeated the
United States (104–14),
Wales (54–16) and
Italy (47–9), and then went onto lose two matches in a row against
Ireland (20–29) and
France (25–40), to finish the season (12–3). The back to back losses against Ireland and France was the first time since 1998 that they finished their season with 2 straight defeats in consecutive weeks.
2022 In July 2022, the All Blacks hosted Ireland to a
3-Test Match Series. In the first game the All Blacks defeated Ireland (42–19), before losing to them in the second game (12–23) and third game (22–32). It was the first time that Ireland had beaten the All Blacks in New Zealand, with two consecutive wins in a row and across a Test series. This also marked the third straight season that the All Blacks lost back to back test matches and this led them to make changes in their coaching setup. They opened their
Rugby Championship campaign with a loss to the Springboks in
Mbombela (10–26), their third consecutive loss. They then rallied back the following week with a win at
Ellis Park (35–23) to retain the Freedom Cup. They lost to Argentina (18–25) for the first time in New Zealand, before bouncing back with a (53–3) victory a week later. They then defeated Australia in a controversial and much debated (39–37) win, thus retaining the Bledisloe Cup. The All Blacks went on to defeat the Wallabies again (40–14) at Eden Park in Auckland. In their End Of Year Northern Tour, they defeated
Japan (38–31), Wales (55–23),
Scotland (31–23) but drew against
England (25–25). The All Blacks finished with eight wins, four losses and one draw. It was their worst win/loss record since the 1998 season.
2023 In 2023, the All Blacks won the shortened version of the
Rugby Championship (due to the World Cup) by defeating Argentina (41–12), South Africa (35–20), and Australia (38–7). After the conclusion of the
2023 Rugby World Cup tournament, Robertson commenced the role of head coach from November 1, 2023.
2024 Robertson's first game as head coach took place against
England in 2024. Robertson's All Blacks team defeated England (16–15) at
Forsyth Barr Stadium, in
Dunedin. A week later in
Eden Park, in
Auckland, the All Blacks defeated England again (24–17). The All Blacks then travelled to
San Diego,
California, to face
Fiji and defeated them (47–5). In the
2024 Rugby Championship, the All Blacks compiled a 3–3 record as they struggled and were outscored in the last 20 minutes in 5 of the 6 games. They split against
Argentina, were swept by
South Africa and then went on to sweep
Australia. In the All Blacks Northern end of year tour, they beat
Japan (64–19) in
Yokohama, beat England (24–22) at
Allianz Stadium, Twickenham and swept them 3–0 in 2024, beat
Ireland (23–13) at the
Aviva Stadium and lost to
France (29–30) in the
Stade de France before bouncing back a week later and defeating
Italy (29–11) in
Turin to go 4 wins from 5 against the Northern Hemisphere teams. In 2024, Scott Robertson had a 10–4 record in his first season as Head Coach.
2025 The All Blacks kicked off their 2025 campaign with a 3-test series against
France. They swept the French to win the series (3–0) with victories in
Dunedin (31–27),
Wellington (43–17), and
Hamilton (29–19). In the
2025 Rugby Championship, the All Blacks compiled a (4–2) record. They split both games with
Argentina with the All Blacks winning (41–24) in
Córdoba, but suffered a first ever defeat to the Puma's on Argentine soil a week later with a (23–29) loss in
Buenos Aires. The All Blacks also split both games with
South Africa with New Zealand winning (24–17) in
Eden Park, but were demolished a week later by the Springboks with a (10–43) loss in Wellington, which is their heaviest defeat in test match history, their worst ever loss at home and their worst ever defeat to the Springboks. South Africa broke their own record from 2 years prior when they gave New Zealand their previous worst defeat at
Twickenham in
London with a (35–7) victory over the All Blacks. They then went onto defeat the
Wallabies twice to retain the
Bledisloe Cup with a (33–24) victory at Eden Park,
Rennie Era On March 4, 2026,
Dave Rennie was named as All Blacks Head Coach through to the 2027 Rugby World Cup. ==Uniform==