The Original All Blacks
The Original All Blacks were the first New Zealand national rugby union team to tour outside Australasia. They toured the British Isles, France and the United States of America during 1905–1906. Their opening game, on 16 September 1905, was against Devon whom they defeated 55–4. They defeated every English side that they faced, including a 16–3 victory over English county champions Durham, and a 32–0 victory over Blackheath. They defeated Scotland, Ireland, and England with the closest of the three matches their 12–7 victory over Scotland. The team's only loss of the tour was a 3–0 defeat by Wales at Cardiff Arms Park. A try claimed by winger Bob Deans was not awarded by the referee and later became a subject of controversy. However, Wales were generally considered the better team with the All Blacks playing particularly poorly in the first half of the game. They managed narrow wins against four Welsh club teams and went on to play France in France's first-ever test match. They returned to New Zealand via North America where they played two matches against Canadian teams. Overall they played a total of thirty-five matches, which included five Tests, and only lost once—the defeat by Wales.
The 1905 All Blacks tour of Britain went on to achieve legendary status within the rugby world and New Zealand in particular. They scored 976 points and conceded only 59, and thus set the standard for future All Blacks sides. The tour also saw the first use of the All Blacks name and established New Zealand's reputation as a world-class rugby nation. Some of these players eventually defected to participate in the professional 1907–08 tour of Australia and Great Britain where they played against Northern Union sides in the sport that would eventually become known as rugby league.
History
Background
After the formation of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union in 1892, New Zealand representative teams were selected for matches against international opponents. The first tour by a New Zealand representative side under NZRFU auspices was in 1894 to New South Wales. New Zealand's first Test match was in 1903 when they played Australia in Sydney. New Zealand's first home Test was played the following year when they defeated Britain at Athletic Park, Wellington, by 9–3. The win was significant as Britain had been unbeaten in their Australian tour, yet they won only two out of five matches in New Zealand. The captain of Great Britain, David Bedell-Sivright, said after the Test that he could not see New Zealand winning the big matches on their Northern Hemisphere tour, but "I think you will probably win most of the county matches."The New Zealand selectors named a squad of 53 players from which the touring team would be selected in late 1904. The following year, on 25 February, a list of 16 "certainties" for the tour was named. A final opportunity for selection was the North-South inter-island match on 3 June 1905 after which, 25 players were selected for the team, and an additional two were added prior to the team's departure to Britain.
Before the Northern Hemisphere tour, 18 of the squad conducted a preliminary three-match tour of Australia where they won two matches and drew the other. They also played four pre-tour matches in New Zealand, winning two, drawing one, and losing their final match 3–0 to Wellington.
The team departed for England aboard the Rimutaka on 30 July. There were two ports of call on the journey – Montevideo, and Tenerife – before their arrival in Plymouth, England. The day after their arrival on 8 September, the squad travelled to Newton Abbot, which served as the team's training base throughout much of the tour.
Early matches
Their first match took place on 16 September 1905 against Devon, who had been runners-up in the most recent English county championship, and for whom played ten members of Devonport Albion, the top club in England. Because of this, Devon went into the match as favourites, however the crowd of 6,000 at the match were soon stunned by the New Zealanders as they scored 12 tries and eventually won 55–4. Billy Wallace scored 28 points, including three tries, and it would be another 51 years before another All Black would score more points in one match. The score caused a sensation in Britain, and some newspapers even incorrectly reported the score as Devon 55, New Zealand 4. Eventually the reports were corrected, and the New Zealanders returned to Newton Abbot to be greeted by a brass band and cheering crowd.Five days later New Zealand faced Cornwall at Recreation Ground in Camborne. Although the score was only 12–0 at half time, the New Zealanders ended up with 11 tries, and a 41–0 victory. The team then travelled to play Bristol, who they played on 23 September. The game was played in front of 6,500 spectators, with the same result as the Cornwall match, a 41–0 victory for New Zealand. They then travelled to Northampton, after stopping in London. The game resulted in another victory, this time 31–0, to the All Blacks. By now, the All Blacks had scored 169 points in their four games, with only four against.
The next match was against Leicester at Welford Road on 30 September. Four players in the Leicester team would go on to play in the England Test; more than any other club. Although the All Blacks were held scoreless for the first 25 minutes, at the time the longest period that the All Blacks had gone without scoring on tour, George Smith eventually crossed for the All Blacks first score of the game. The All Blacks ended the match 28–0 winners.
After the following match against Middlesex, won 34–0 by the All Blacks, The Daily Chronicle said "These New Zealanders turn defence into attack with such bewildering rapidity as to prove that scrummaging is a mere detail. There is nothing in the game in which they do not excel."
The toughest game of the tour so far was against Durham County, on 7 October. Durham were the English county champions, and were the first team to score a try against the All Blacks on tour. Despite the small 6–3 advantage to the All Blacks at the break, they scored 10 unanswered points in the second half to win 16–3. The All Blacks' closest game of the tour so far was immediately followed by their largest win. The match against Hartlepool Clubs, one of the strongest teams in northern England, was won 63–0 by the All Blacks.
The All Blacks next three games were against Northumberland, Gloucester, and Somerset. None of the sides scored against the All Blacks; with them losing by 31, 44, and 23 points to nil respectively. Four days following the Somerset match, the All Blacks faced Devonport Albion. Devonport Albion were England's club champion, and the runners-up for Great Britain club champion. 20,000 spectators witnessed another All Blacks victory; this time by 21–3.
For the match against Midland Counties at Leicester, 17,000 spectators, as well as officials from the Welsh rugby union attended the match. Although Midland Counties scored a converted try, the All Blacks retained their winning record with a 21–5 victory. The victory over Midland Counties was followed by an 11–0 victory over Surrey, and 32–0 victory over Blackheath. The seven try win over Blackheath was considered by Wallace to be the end of the All Blacks' peak—"Unfortunately, after this game injuries began to take their toll and prevented us ever putting in so fine a team again on the tour."
The next three game for the All Blacks would be played in five days. The All Blacks scored 13 tries, and Jimmy Hunter five of them, as they ran up a 47–0 victory over Oxford University. Their next match, two days later, was against Cambridge University. The Scotland Test was approaching, and the All Blacks decided to rest several players, Hunter, Billy Stead, Selling and George Gillett. Cambridge's kicking game, and fast backs helped them to restrict the score to 14–0 to the All Blacks. Two days later the All Blacks faced Richmond, and scored five tries to register a 17–0 victory. Their last game before the Scotland Test was against a Bedford XV in Richmond. There were four All Black tries in the first half, and six in the second. The final score was 41–0; the All Blacks had now scored over 600 points on tour.
Scotland
At the time of the Tour, rugby in Scotland was a game of the upper classes, and the Scottish Rugby Union was very conservative. Their officials believed the game should remain strictly amateur, and that rugby was for the players, not the spectators. The Scottish were uncomfortable with the public interest in the All Blacks, and did not make them feel very welcome. They interpreted a letter sent to them stating that the All Blacks did not want to be entertained after their match quite literally, and the All Blacks were not invited to the after-match dinner organised by the Scottish Union. As well as this, the SRU refused to grant international caps for the game.The game was a financial success for the NZRFU. The NZRFU had asked for a £500 financial guarantee from the SRU for the game, but because of their poor finances, the SRU offered instead to give the entire gate. Due to a big attendance, the NZRFU received a fee of over £1700 for the game. Although the SRU were very happy with this, there were also concerns about the three shillings a day each All Black received whilst on tour. After they found that the Rugby Football Union had approved the payments, a Calcutta Cup match was cancelled.
The game was played on 18 November on an icy pitch, which nearly caused the game to be cancelled. The All Blacks kicked off, and had the best of the first ten minutes. Scotland eventually got a scrum near the All Blacks goal-line, and after winning the scrum, passed to Ernest Simson, who dropped a goal to put Scotland ahead 4–0. It was the first time the All Blacks had been behind on tour. The All Blacks replied with a try under the posts, which was unconverted. A second try was then scored, by Smith; again it went unconverted. Scotland then scored an unconverted try, to lead at half time 7–6. With less than ten minutes to go the score remained 7–6 and it looked like the All Blacks might lose their first match on tour. However, with four minutes to go the All Blacks had a scrum on halfway; the resulting movement finished with George Smith crossing for a try. Bill Cunningham then scored a try with seconds remaining, and the All Blacks were victorious 12–7.
Four days after the Scotland Test the All Blacks faced West of Scotland District in Glasgow. The cities' secondary schools were given half a day off to watch the match. The All Blacks scored six tries on the way to a 22–0 victory. The team then travelled to Ireland, for their third Test.