The All Blacks are New Zealand's national team in rugby union, which is the country's national sport. The All Blacks are a formidable force in international rugby and have a winning record against every international rugby team, including the British and Irish Lions and the World XV.
The All Blacks compete annually with the Australian rugby team (the Wallabies), and the South African rugby team, (the Springboks), in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with Australia. The All Blacks have been Tri-Nations champions seven times in the tournament's eleven-year history, and twice completed a Grand Slam (in 1978 and in 2005), and currently hold the Bledisloe Cup. According to the official IRB World Rankings, the All Blacks are ranked second in the world behind current world champions South Africa. The All Blacks were also named the 2006 International Rugby Board (IRB) Team of the Year. Fourteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, and one has been inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame.
The team first competed internationally in 1884 against Cumberland County, New South Wales, and played their first Test match in 1903, a victory against Australia. This was soon followed by a tour of the northern hemisphere in 1905, during which the team's only loss was to Wales in Cardiff. (Full article...)