The Biggest All Black Defeats
The All Blacks, despite being one of the strongest rugby teams the world has ever seen, have suffered a number of heavy losses over the years. This article looks at the most crushing.
1: Australia 28, All Blacks 7, 1999
The All Blacks had defeated the Wallabies at Eden Park by 19 points a month before, but could rightly be said to never actually be in the match that played out in front of more than 100 000 fans at the Sydney Olympic Stadium. Although Australia managed to score just 1 try, thanks to Mark Conners, Matt Burke kicked 7 penalties and a conversion, tallying 23 points.
2: South Africa 17, All Black 0, 1928
The opening test match for the 1928 All Blacks tour to South Africa stood as the worst defeat the All Blacks had ever seen for over 70 years. It was the 1st test in 3 years for the New Zealand team, and this meant that everyone except 2 members of the team were playing for the 1st time, and George Nepia, the All Blacks fullback, was left behind in New Zealand thanks to his race.
3: England 38, All Blacks 21, 2012
England managed a truly astonishing performance when they beat the All Blacks with a final score of 38 – 21 at Twickenham, in the largest victory over the team from New Zealand in their test history.
Steve Hansen had to put his dreams of a perfect year to bed when the English team quickly scored 3 rapid-fire 2nd half tries thanks to Brad Barrit, Manu Tuilagi, and Chris Ashton, and these all took place in the final moments of the game, between minute 54 and minute 61.
4: Australia 26, All Blacks 10, 1980
This became a well-known win for the Australian team not just because of the margin by which they won, but because it was how they managed to defend the Bledisloe Cup for the 1st time.
Just before the 3rd test, at the Cricket Ground in Sydney, the entire All Blacks team was struck by food poisoning, and at least 5 of the players were still dealing with the effects of this on the day of the game. In fact, Gary Knight and Murray Mexted ended up having to go to hospital hours before kickoff, but decided to play anyway.
The Wallabies managed to score 4 times, while the only try that the All Blacks managed came through in the closing minutes of the test, thanks to Bernie Fraser crossing over on an overlap. This victory completed a 2 – 1 series win for the Australian team, and marked the first one that they enjoyed against the All Blacks since 1934.
5: Australia 20, All Blacks 5, 1964
The last match in a 3-test series was thought to be in the bag, thanks to the fact that the All Blacks had won in both Christchurch and Dunedin. It was also the last test for the All Blacks for that year, similarly to 2012, and this loss meant that they would not see the year out unbeaten.