The New Zealand men's national rugby union team is called the All Blacks. Rugby union is regarded as New Zealand's national sport.[1] 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 ever played. The All Blacks have held the top ranking in the world for longer than all other countries combined [2] and in over 100 years only five of the top twenty ranked test rugby nations have ever beaten New Zealand.[3]
The All Blacks have won a record 75% of all rugby matches they have ever played since 1903 and they were named the International Rugby Board (IRB) Team of the Year in 2005, 2006, 2008 and a record fourth time in 2010.[4] Their captain, Richie McCaw is the International Rugby Board Player of the Year for a record third time and fifteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, one into the IRB Hall of Fame.
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.
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 favourites to take the championship.[46] Their role as favourites was confirmed when a young Jonah Lomu scored four tries against England in New Zealand's 45–29 semi-final win.[47] However, the New Zealand team suffered an outbreak of food poisoning before the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final (the source of the poisoning is heavily debated). Despite this, they took hosts South Africa to extra time, before losing to Joel Stransky's drop goal.[48][49] The allegation of food poisoning was later publicly backed by Rory Steyn, a former head of security for South African president Nelson Mandela. He was the security liaison for the All Blacks and reported in a book that a Far Eastern gambling syndicate was responsible for the outbreak by bribing a waitress.[50][51]
