The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for their international success, the All Blacks have often been regarded as one of the most successful sports teams in history.
The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks, is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jerseys with white shorts, and their emblem is the Springbok, a native antelope and the national animal of South Africa. The team has represented South African Rugby Union in international rugby union since 30 July 1891, when they played their first test match against a British Isles touring team. Currently, the Springboks are the top-ranked rugby team in the world and reigning World Champions, having won the World Cup a record four times. South Africa have won half of the Rugby World Cups they have participated in and are also the second nation to win the World Cup consecutively.
The Australia men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the touring British Isles team.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to the International Rugby Football Board, now known as World Rugby, the governing body of rugby union for the world. It dropped the word "Football" from its name in 2006. The brand name New Zealand Rugby was adopted in 2013. Officially, it is an incorporated society with the name New Zealand Rugby Union Incorporated.
Rugby union has been played in New Zealand since 1870 and is the most popular sport in the country as well as being its national sport.
The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing is that the player has Māori whakapapa (genealogy). In the past this rule was not strictly applied; non–Māori players who looked Māori were often selected in the team. These included a few Pacific island players and a couple of African descent. Today all players have their ancestry verified before selection in the team.
John Kahukura Raymond Timu is a New Zealand former rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s who achieved international selection for New Zealand in both rugby codes, appearing in 26 tests for the All Blacks in union and nine for the Kiwis in league. Timu's usual position was centre in league and in union he would play at full-back or on the wing.
Richard Swain is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A New Zealand international hooker, he played club football in Australia for the Hunter Mariners, Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos and in England for Hull FC.
Hosea Emiliano Gear is a former New Zealand rugby union player who played as a wing. He has also played 14 international matches for New Zealand.
The Cavaliers was an unofficial New Zealand rugby union team which toured South Africa in 1986. Because of the Apartheid policies of the South African government, the official New Zealand Rugby Union tour scheduled for 1985 was cancelled, and the Cavaliers tour was very controversial in New Zealand.
New Zealand first played against Ireland in 1905, during the 1905–1906 All Blacks tour of Europe and North America, beating Ireland 15–0 at Lansdowne Road, Dublin. The two teams have played 37 test matches, with New Zealand winning 31, Ireland winning 5, and 1 match drawn.
In 1928, the New Zealand national rugby union team undertook a three-month tour of South Africa. The series of four Test matches was drawn 2–2 and the overall tour record was sixteen wins, five losses and one draw.
1949 saw the second full tour of South Africa by a representative New Zealand rugby union team. The All Blacks achieved a record of 13 wins, 7 losses and 4 draws, and they lost the test series 4–0.
The first clash in Rugby Union between Australia and New Zealand took place in a test match on 15 August 1903 in Sydney, New South Wales. On that occasion, New Zealand won 22–3.
The 1907–1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Australia and Great Britain was made by a group of New Zealand rugby footballers who played matches in Australia, Ceylon, England and Wales between 1907 and 1908. Most of the matches were played under the rules of the Northern Union, a sport that is today known as rugby league. As such, the team were the immediate predecessors of the New Zealand national rugby league team. The tour had a large role in establishing rugby league in both Australia and New Zealand, and also gave birth to international rugby league. The tour party has come to be known as the professional All Blacks or All Golds, although at the time they were commonly referred to as the All Blacks—a named popularised by the New Zealand rugby union team that toured the Northern Hemisphere in 1905.
The 1921 South Africa rugby union tour of Australia and New Zealand was the third tour made by the Springboks rugby team, and their first tour to Australia and New Zealand. South Africa played three Test matches against the All Blacks. The series was drawn 1–all, and the long-running controversy between the countries over the All Blacks' inclusion of Maori players began.
In June 2012, Ireland toured New Zealand playing three Tests against the All Blacks. The Irish tour was one in a series of tours by northern teams to be hosted by southern hemisphere nations. It was marketed as the 'Steinlager Series'.
The 1960 New Zealand rugby union tour of South Africa, was a series of rugby union matches played by the New Zealand national rugby union team in South Africa and Rhodesia.
The 2000 New Zealand rugby union tour of Japan and Europe was a series of matches played in November 2000 in Japan and Europe by New Zealand national rugby union team.
In July 2022, Ireland played a three-test series against New Zealand as part of the 2022 mid-year rugby union internationals. Ireland also played two matches against the Māori All Blacks. This was Ireland's first tour since their tour to Australia in 2018, their first tour to New Zealand since 2012, and their first encounter against New Zealand since November 2021.
