All Blacks

All Blacks, New Zealand national rugby team and one of the most successful teams in the sport’s history, with an all-time winning record of nearly .770. They have been dominant since their first Test match (a match played between teams from different nations) in 1903. They have won the quadrennial Rugby World Cup three times, second only to South Africa’s four titles.

History and name origin

The All Blacks’ name comes from their black uniforms. As rugby historian Ron Palenski wrote in Rugby: A New Zealand History (2015), a journalist in Australia referred to the New Zealand rugby team as the “all blacks” in 1893. A 1905 recap of a match in the Exeter (England) Express and Echo noted:

“The All Blacks, as they are styled by reason of their sable and unrelieved costume, were under the guidance of their captain…”

Many children play rugby in New Zealand, which has provided a pipeline of players to the national team, although boys’ participation in the sport has declined in recent years. A former All Blacks player, Jeff Wilson, has compared New Zealanders’ passion for rugby to Brazilians’ love of football (soccer) and Americans’ fondness for basketball. Only the All Blacks and the South African Springboks have won back-to-back World Cups: The All Blacks claimed the 2011 and 2015 titles, while South Africa won in 2019 and 2023.

The All Blacks also won the 1987 World Cup, the sport’s first one, which was held in New Zealand and Australia. The team won the first game of that tournament, throttling Italy, 70–6, and continued to dominate, including victories of 74–13 over Fiji and 46–15 over Argentina, before beating France, 29–9, to claim the title. As the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage noted, “In a country where rugby became a surrogate for religion, hosting and then winning the first Rugby World Cup was a big deal.” The All Blacks have excelled in another tournament, the annual four-team Rugby Championship, taking home the trophy in 9 out of 12 years.

Greatest players

An early All Blacks star was George Nēpia, who played for the team in the 1920s and is recognized as one of the best fullbacks in the history of the sport. He was a member of the 1924–25 All Blacks’ “Invincibles” tour of the British Isles, France, and Canada. However, because he was Māori, the New Zealand Rugby Union kept him off the team’s 1928 tour of segregationist South Africa.

Perhaps the best player in All Blacks history was lock forward Colin Meads, who starred for the team from 1957 to 1971. The tall, muscular Meads, nicknamed “Pinetree,” played with a physical intensity that was a trademark of the All Blacks in the 1960s. Known in the sport as an enforcer, Meads once described his style as, “Heads down, bottoms up and drive, drive for 80 minutes.” He went on to manage the All Blacks in 1994 and 1995. In 1999 New Zealand Rugby Monthly magazine named him New Zealand Rugby Player of the Century. The International Rugby Hall of Fame called him “the most famous forward in world rugby throughout the 1960s.”

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Other notable players in All Blacks history include:

• outside center Frank Bunce
• inside center Dan Carter
• fullback Christian Cullen
• hooker Sean Fitzpatrick
• blindside flanker Michael Jones
• wing Jonah Lomu
• wing John Kirwan
• openside flanker Richie McCaw

The haka, a special spectacle

The All Blacks are known not just for their success on the field but also for the haka, a pre-match Māori ceremonial dance that The Sporting News has called “one of the most unusual spectacles in sport.” The players perform the dance to challenge their opponents, sticking out their tongues, stomping their feet, and bellowing a guttural chant.

“Since an 1888 tour by the ‘New Zealand Natives’ [a mostly Māori team] led by Joseph Warbrick the haka has been closely associated with New Zealand rugby,” the team wrote in an online essay. “Its mystique has evolved along with the fierce determination, commitment and high-level skill which has been the hallmark of New Zealand’s National game.” The All Blacks first performed the haka before a match in 1905.

South African Victor Matfield, a former rugby player, recalled seeing the haka as an All Blacks opponent. “If it gave them a boost that was fine because it gave me a boost,” he told The Guardian in 2022. “A mental boost. I knew I was in for a fight and it would get me going. I’d look across the field and look at my opposite number and accept the challenge. It’s a wonderful thing in our sport.”