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The All Blacks Winning Streak

1987

Twenty-four years ago the New Zealand All Blacks won the first Rugby World Cup. At the time the competition was merely seen as an experiment as only amateur games had taken place previously – there had been no long history of rugby as a professional sport. In 1987, there was no doubt as to who the stronger teams were with the International Rugby Board (IRB) listing the top seven teams as New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and France. Most games played in the first Rugby World Cup were generally one sided where the top team scored 40+ points against their opposition.

Twenty-four years ago, New Zealand beat France with the score 29-9 with Michael Jones, David Kirk and John Kirwan scoring three tries and Grant Fox making the conversion, scoring the penalties (of which there were four) and scoring via a drop-kick. On the French side, Pierre Berbizier scored the one try France had while Didier Camberabero scored the first conversion and the penalty.

For the rest of the world, and those teams who had won the Webb-Ellis cup since the first game, 1987 hadn’t meant much. However, this was the first and only time New Zealand won the cup, regardless of the All Blacks standing as the number one team in the IRB statistics. Even though the event has only occurred seven times, New Zealand has never been able to bring the cup back home and keep it there; that is until the 2011 Rugby World Cup where the All Blacks and France were in a state of déjà vu.

Pool A

The All Blacks were placed in Pool A alongside Tonga, Japan, France and Canada with France as the main threat to the promise that the All Blacks would bring the Cup home. By the end of the Pool rounds (of which there were three other Pools, each with one or two of the best teams in the world), Pool A saw New Zealand in the lead with 20 points, thus qualifying them for the Quarter Finals, France on 11, also entering the Quarter Finals, Tonga with 9 points, Canada with 6 points and Japan with 2 points.

New Zealand vs Tonga

The first game of the World Cup was between Tonga and New Zealand on the 9th September after the opening ceremony to the World Cup. Throughout the match New Zealand scored six tries - Richard Kahui (with two) who was later named Man of the Match, Israel Dagg (with two), Jerome Kaino and the last by Ma’a Nonu, four conversions from Dan Carter (with three) and one from Colin Slade, and one penalty which was the first set of points won for the All Blacks by Dan Carter by the sixth minute of the game. This put the All Blacks on 41 points. Tonga, on the other hand, scored one try by Alisona Taumalolo and one penalty and conversion were both scored by Kurt Morath. The Tongan’s left the game with 10 points. While the All Blacks maintained a significant lead over Tonga, there was no doubt that the Tongans weren’t going to give up. They played most of the game well in their defence and really put up a fight against the All Blacks, and even if they couldn’t beat them, they had the most amazing support from fans throughout the country.

New Zealand vs Japan

The last time New Zealand and Japan played each other was in the 1995 World Cup with the All Blacks on 145 points and the Japanese on 17 points. With these results in mind, it was in the back of some people’s heads that Japan would pick up their game and present the All Blacks with a strong fight; it also presented a slight worrying situation as the All Blacks Fly-half Dan Carter was ruled out of the game due to injury in the match against Tonga the week before.

However this didn’t seem to affect any of the teams playing. The All Blacks scored 13 tries - from Conrad Smith, Richard Kahui (scoring two), Jerome Kaino, Kevin Mealamu, Andy Ellis, Colin Slade, Sonny Bill Williams (scoring two), Isaia Toeava, Andrew Hore, Ma’a Nonu and Adam Thomson. Colin Slade came onto the field wearing the number ten jersey, replacing Dan Cater, and he scored nine of the 13 conversions. The All Blacks left the game with 83 points, considerably less than the points scored in 1995, but still impressive. Japan was only able to score one try by Hirotoki Onozawa and one conversion by Murray Williams, the team leaving the game with a final score of 7.

The Man of the Match went to All Blacks Ma’a Nonu.

New Zealand vs France

In 2007 the All Blacks faced France in a Quarter Final match where they lost by two points. The loss was heart wrenching for all rugby fans in New Zealand who thought the All Blacks could make their way to the finals, but the final score of 18-20 saw the All Blacks lose out on any further placement in that World Cup. Four years ago they lost and it was with crossed fingers that fans sat down to watch the game. There were those confident fans who swore the All Blacks could win, yet the loss of 2007 and how close the game had been was present in the thoughts of others.

Alas, the All Blacks came out on top once again with a final score of 37 made up from five tries scored by Adam Thomson, Cory Jane, Israel Dagg (with two) and Sonny Bill Williams. Dan Carter scored the tree conversions, one penalty and one drop-kick. Maxime Mermoz and Francois Trinh-Duc scored two tries for France while Dimitri Yachvili scored two tries and one penalty, giving the French an overall score of 17. Both teams played well, neither buckling under pressure from what had happened in the previous World Cup. Both teams appeared relatively calm and cool-headed, giving the nation and fan’s a decent game of rugby as compared to the previous two games the All Blacks had played in the Pool. This game was the first sign of actual competition.

The game ended with another high for the All Blacks as Captain Richie McCaw (number 7) received his 100th test Cap under the All Blacks while Man of the Match went to All Black Israel Dagg.

New Zealand vs Canada

It was a rainy day in Wellington when the All Blacks took to the field against Canada and this could be an ‘explanation’ as to why the All Blacks played one of their worst games of the World Cup. There were many errors made by the All Blacks; players not receiving the ball as well as they should, players fumbling with the ball and players just over-all not playing as well as they should have been. The All Blacks had also lost their Fly-half for the rest of the competition as Dan Carter had been ruled out with a serious groin injury.

Unsurprisingly though, the All Blacks carried on to their final win of the pool stages. There was a total of 12 tries scored by Zac Guildford (with three), Victor Vito (with two), Israel Dagg, Mils Muliaina, Jimmy Cowan, Jerome Kaino (with two), and Sonny Bill Williams. Colin Slade, initially replacing Dan Carter, scored four conversions and one penalty and then the All Blacks ‘new’ Dan Carter, Piri Weepu came on to the field to rectify the four misses Slade had made by scoring the next four conversions of the match. The All Blacks scored a total of 79 points. Canada’s Conor Trainor scored the team’s four tries while Ander Monro scored one conversion; Canada left the final game of their 2011 World Cup with 15 points.

Man of the Match went to All Black Jerome Kaino.

Quarter Finals – New Zealand vs Argentina

The All Blacks made it to the Quarter Finals where they had lucked out in the last World Cup. By this game, reserves had to be called up for the All Blacks in order to have substitute players over the position that seemed to be ruling everyone out. Dan Carter was out, Colin Slade replaced him, then Slade got a slight groin injury (and it was also apparent that he couldn’t play as well under the significant amount of pressure the country had him under) so Piri Weepu came to the rescue wearing the number 9 jersey. Aaron Cruden and Stephen Donald were both called up to take positions in the team – Aaron Cruden filling in for number 10 and Donald on the side-line in case anything else happened to a Fly-half.

The game wasn’t as fast as the previous four; it wasn’t until the twelfth minute that anyone scored – in that minute Piri Weepu scored a penalty for the All Blacks. In the twenty-fifth minute, Weepu scored another penalty bringing the score of the game to 6-0. Half an hour after the game started Argentina finally scored against the All Blacks with a try from Julio Cabello and a conversion from Felipe Contepomi, putting the Argentina Puma’s one point ahead of the All Blacks. However, seven minutes later – with three minutes until half time, Weepu had scored two more penalties for the All Blacks bringing the score to 12-7.

In the first ten minutes of the second half, both the Pumas and the All Blacks scored penalties; from Marcelo Bosch and Weepu once again. In the next ten minutes Weepu scored another penalty, taking the score to 18-10 to the All Blacks. The first All Blacks try of the game was finally placed over the try line by Kieran Read at the sixty-seventh minute, followed by a failed conversion kick by Weepu, his first failed kick of the night. However, Weepu once again scored another conversion in minute seventy-two of the game. Two minutes before full time, Brad Thorn – the team’s oldest All Black at age 36) scored a second try for the All Blacks with new-comer Aaron Cruden taking and scoring the final conversion of the game bringing the All Blacks to a place in the Semi-Finals with a final score of 33-10.

Mils Muliaina was the second All Black to be awarded his 100th Test Cap during the World Cup. Man of the Match went to, not surprisingly, Piri Weepu.

Semi-Finals – New Zealand vs Australia

This match became one of the scariest, bloodiest matches of the World Cup for both Australia and New Zealand. It wasn’t just a match between two countries in a sporting event held every four years; it was a competition between the world number one (New Zealand) and the world number two (Australia) as presented in statistics by the IRB. However, it wasn’t just that either. It was a match between two countries that have always had insane competition within sport – it was almost like a war. The All Blacks had already played two other Cup games against Australia before the World Cup; the Bledisloe Cup and the Tri-Nations (the latter of which is between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa). The All Blacks won the Bledisloe Cup against Australia and lost the final of the Tri-Nations against Australia. The latter game proved that if one team was up twenty points at half-time, the other team could come back after half-time and match those twenty points – this semi-final, it showed, could go either way. Nothing would be for certain.

Ma’a Nonu put fans at ease when he scored the first try of the match for the All Blacks in the seventh minute. Weepu missed the conversion of Nonu’s try, but was able to score a penalty in the thirteenth minute bringing the score to 8-0. And then the Wallabies began to fight back with Quade Cooper scoring a penalty in the sixteenth minute. In the twenty-third minute, Aaron Cruden scored his first drop-kick goal in the World Cup, putting the All Blacks on 11 points while the Wallabies were steady on their three. But Quade Cooper fought back, yet again, scoring his own drop-kick goal, bringing the Wallabies to six points. At the thirty-sixth minute Weepu scored another penalty which was the last score for any team before half time.

Three minutes into the second half Weepu scored yet another penalty. For thirty minutes both teams battled it out with neither scoring any tries, conversions or penalties. It appeared to be more of a game of scrums than anything else. But on the seventy-third minute, Piri Weepu – the country’s new God – scored the final penalty of the game, bringing the overall score to 20-6, as no one scored any further points via tries or conversions in the remaining seven minutes of the match.

This game began the sense of déjà vu for the All Blacks as 24 years ago they had won against the Wallabies on the grounds at Eden Park in the Semi-Finals. There was also rumours of a psychological factor before the game with the idea that the Wallabies have never won a game on the turf of Eden Park against the All Blacks.

The All Blacks would head into another bout of déjà vu in their final against France while Australia went on to play (and win) the Bronze Final against Wales.

Corey Jane of the All Blacks received Man of the Match.

Final – New Zealand vs France

On the 20th June 2011, New Zealand played France at Eden Park Stadium – the same team and location as 24 years ago, and they won with a score 8-7. After 24 years, the Web-Ellis Cup was brought back home.

But the game wasn’t easy. Both teams scored one try each, the French scored their conversion while the All Blacks (and Piri Weepu) missed theirs, the French missed their two penalties while the All Blacks scored one of their two, and the French missed their drop-kick goal that would have won them the World Cup had it gone through the posts.

This was also another game of the World Cup where the All Blacks hadn’t played their best. The team lost the majority of the line-outs where they could have gained more territory, the All Blacks had to put up a fight as the French went nigh on twenty phases to get the ball through to the try-line, they fumbled with the ball, there were signs where they were about to pick a fight with members of the French team and there were times where they lost the ball completely, losing the progress of territory they had gained.

New Zealand only scored one try and it was scored by Tony Woodcock in the fifteenth minute of the game. At half-time, the score was 5-0, with neither team scoring after Woodcock’s try. Before half-time, All Black Aaron Cruden left the position of Fly-half with a knee injury (hyper-extension) and Stephen Donald came on to replace him. This was possibly another moment where the All Blacks and fans were scared about how this game would go. Stephen Donald entered the game with little recent rugby experience and the belief that he played inconsistently in the past. However, after half-time in the forty-sixth minute he amazed the crowd and the nation by (in hindsight) scoring the winning penalty for the All Blacks and their Rugby World Cup.

Ignoring the aspect of hindsight, it wasn’t long until the French caught up with Thierry Dusautoir scoring a try and Francois Trinh-Duc kicking the conversion, bringing the game to a score of 8-7 with the All Blacks only one point ahead. In the last ten minutes, the French pushed forward through 14 phases and both teams found themselves locked in scrums trying to fight for possession of the ball. The game went into over-time when eighty minutes had been played, the French were finally penalised and the All Blacks finally brought the World Cup back home after 24 years, winning by just one point.

The Aftermath

After winning the 2011 Rugby World Cup Richie McCaw (Captain) was asked how he felt, his response: "Well, I'm absolutely shagged." But the elation of winning the Cup kept them going over the night as they (and) Richie McCaw accepted the Webb-Ellis Cup from Prime Minister John Key and IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset. Over the next three days the All Blacks would travel through Victory Parades through central Auckland, Christchurch and through the CBD to Parliament in Wellington. Fans in these cities had a further opportunity to view the Webb-Ellis Cup and applaud the All Blacks for their well-deserved success over the six week period of the Cup.

As rugby fever has died down in the country, the All Blacks and rugby fans say goodbye to All Black coach Graham Henry. He announced on the first of November that he would be stepping down as coach. He has been dubbed as one of the most "successful rugby coaches of all time leading the All Blacks to 88 wins in 103 tests with a winning percentage of 85.4%." He was awarded the the IRB International Coach of the Year for the fifth time, and left his All Blacks career on one of the best high's any coach could imagine.

For the All Blacks this means the induction of a new coach. But for the moment, members have gone back to their Super-15 Clubs for selection and training for the Super-15 games that will be played.

The Rugby World Cup is over for another four years with New Zealand able to call themselves World Champions until the games take place in four years time at the 2015 World Cup in England. As an end to the 2011 games, the closing images of the ceremony saw a rugby ball flying back across the world to England where Jonny Wilkinson is presented as the new threat of the Cup as he drop kicks a penalty.

But for now, the little country at the bottom of the world is content enough to hold the Webb-Ellis Cup for the next four years.