International competition begins

The year 1892 saw the formation of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union representing seven unions not including Canterbury, Otago and Southland. The first sanctioned New Zealand side toured New South Wales in 1894 and the following year New Zealand played its first home "international" game, losing 8-6 to New South Wales. The team's first true international Test match was against Australia on 15 August 1903 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

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Introduction of rugby to New Zealand

Rugby Football was introduced to New Zealand by Charles Monro in the late 1860s; Monro discovered the sport while completing his studies at Christ's College, Finchley, England. The first recorded game in New Zealand took place in May 1870 in Nelson between the Nelson club and Nelson College. The first union, Canterbury, was formed in 1879. In 1882, New Zealand's first internationals were played when the Southern Rugby Union (later the New South Wales Rugby Union) toured the country. The tourists played Auckland provincial clubs twice, Wellington twice and once each against Canterbury, Otago and West Coast, North Island, winning four games and losing three. Two years later the first New Zealand team to go overseas toured New South Wales; New Zealand played and won eight games.
The first tour by a British team took place in 1888 when a British Isles team toured Australia and New Zealand, but no Test matches were played. The players were drawn mainly from England and the Scottish Borders, although there were representatives from all four home unions.

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Introduction to New Zealand Rugby

Currently the number one ranked team in the IRB World Rankings they were named the International Rugby Board (IRB) Team of the Year in 2005, 2006 and 2008. Fifteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, one into the IRB Hall of Fame.
The team first competed in 1884 against Cumberland County, New South Wales, and played their first Test match in 1903, a victory against Australia. This was followed by a tour of the northern hemisphere in 1905.
The team's early uniforms consisted of a black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers. By their 1905 tour New Zealand were wearing all black, except for the silver fern, and their All Black name dates from this time. New Zealand traditionally perform a haka (Māori challenge) before each match. Traditionally, the haka performed is Te Rauparaha's Ka Mate, though since 2005, Kapa o Pango, a modified version of the 1924 All Blacks haka, Kia Whaka-ngawari, has occasionally been performed.

 

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Introduction to New Zealand Rugby

The All Blacks represent New Zealand in rugby union, which is regarded as the country's national sport. They won the inaugural Rugby World Cup, are the leading points scorers of all time and the only international rugby team with a winning record against every test nation they have played. They have the highest win ratio of close to 75 percent and rank as the number one team in the world for the most period of time in IRB World Rankings. More than half of the top 20 ranked rugby union test nations have never beaten New Zealand in over 100 years of international competition.
The All Blacks compete annually with the Wallabies (Australia) and the Springboks (South Africa) in the Tri-Nations Series, and have been Tri-Nations champions nine times in the tournament's 14-year history. They hold the Bledisloe Cup which they contest annually with Australia and have three times completed a Grand Slam (in 1978, 2005 and 2008) defeating all four Home Nations during one tour.

 

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