The New Zealand national rugby union team , commonly known as the All Blacks , [ 1 ] [ 2 ] represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union , which is considered the country's national sport. Since their international debut in , the All Blacks have played test matches against 19 nations, of which 12 have never won a game against the team.
New Zealand has a 76 per cent winning record in test match rugby, and has secured more wins than losses against every test opponent. The team has also played against three multinational all—star teams, losing only 8 of 45 matches. Since the introduction of the World Rugby Rankings in , New Zealand has held the number-one ranking longer than all other teams combined. The All Blacks compete with Argentina , Australia and South Africa in the Rugby Championship , and have won the trophy twenty times in the competition's 29—year history.
The team has completed a Grand Slam tour against the four Home Nations four times , , and The team's first match took place in in New South Wales and their first international test match in against Australia in Sydney.
The following year New Zealand hosted their first home test, a match against a British Isles side in Wellington. New Zealand's early uniforms consisted of a black jersey with a silver fern and white shorts. By the tour they were wearing all black, except for the silver fern, and the name "All Blacks" dates from this time. Rugby union, known almost universally in New Zealand as just "rugby", was introduced to the nation by Charles Monro in ; [ 8 ] he had discovered the sport while completing his studies at Christ's College in Finchley, England.
The visitors only played provincial sides and no test matches were played. A representative New Zealand team first toured the British Isles in The side is now known as the " Originals ", as the "All Blacks" name emerged during this tour when, according to team member Billy Wallace , a London newspaper reported that the New Zealanders played as if they were "all backs".
