The first clash in Rugby Union between Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

took place in a test match on 15 August 1903 in Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. On that occasion, New Zealand won 22–3. Since 1931, the overall winner of the annual test matches (between one and three games in any given year) between the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

and the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

takes possession of the

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has va ...

, named after Lord Bledisloe, who donated the trophy. Currently the rivalry is one the most played of any two international rugby union teams, and having played against each other 175 times, the All Blacks lead the series 122 to 45 with 8 draws between them and includes a large number of fixtures recorded for

as "XV" results.

Summary

The summary below is for all matches where test caps were awarded by both national unions, which leaves out all 24 meetings from 1920 to 1928, in which the governing

New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...

fielded the second level New Zealand XV team rather than the highest All Blacks team. The

Australian Rugby Union Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...

retroactively awarded test status caps to its own players for those matches.

Overall

Records

Note: Date shown in brackets indicates when the record was or last set.

Tri Nations and the professional era (1996–2011)

2011 Rugby World Cup Australia vs New Zealand (7296130050)

The professional era in rugby union began in 1995, marked by creation of the

SANZAR SANZAAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina Rugby; previously known as SANZAR) is the body which oversees Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship competitions in rugby union. SANZAAR meets annually and is composed of the CEOs from ...

group (a combination of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia) which was formed with the purpose of selling TV rights for two new competitions, the domestic Super 12 competition and the Tri-Nations. The first Tri-Nations was contested in 1996, with New Zealand winning all four of their Tests to take the trophy. In 2000 in Sydney, a record crowd of 109,874 witnessed what some have called 'The Greatest Ever Rugby Match' when the All Blacks defeated The Wallabies 39–35. Twenty one days after their win in Sydney, the All Blacks lost to the Wallabies in front of a home crowd. This meant the Wallabies won The Bledisloe Cup for the third year in a row. Another one of the most dramatic matches was played on 1 September 2001 at

Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. The stadium, which in Australia is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Stad ...

, in what would be Wallaby great John Eales' last ever test. The Wallabies were hoping to send their skipper off in a grand style. A fairy tale ending was looking possible in the first half as the Wallabies took a 19-6 lead over the All Blacks. However, tries for

Doug Howlett Douglas Charles Howlett (born 21 September 1978) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He was primarily a wing, but he also sometimes played as a fullback. He played for Auckland, and the Highlanders, Hurricanes and Blues ...

and Pita Alatini, along with

Andrew Mehrtens Andrew Philip Mehrtens (born 28 April 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He was regarded as a top first five-eighth, having played first for Canterbury in 1993, before being selected for the All Blacks (New Zealand's national te ...

kicking, saw the All Blacks back in front 26–22. Then, in the dying moments of the game No.8 Toutai Kefu scored the winning try for the Wallabies. Two years later in 2003 the Wallabies suffered one of their most humiliating losses, being defeated 21–50 by the All Blacks in Sydney. In 2008, a Bledisloe Cup match was played in Hong Kong, which New Zealand won 19–14. It was rumoured that the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and Japan would host future Bledisloe Cup matches, and these rumours proved true in the case of Japan, as

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

hosted a 2009 Bledisloe match. The first two Tests of the 2010 series saw the All Blacks extend their winning streak over the Wallabies to 10 games. (Australia's last previous win came on 26 July 2008 at Sydney.) The third and fourth tests were extremely tight affairs, both being won by late tries. In the Sydney test on 11 September, converted tries by Richie McCaw and Kieran Read in the last 13 minutes allowed the All Blacks to overcome a 9–22 deficit. The win saw New Zealand complete a 100% record in the 2010 Tri-Nations. On 30 October 2010 the sides contested the now-customary fourth annual Bledisloe Cup test at a neutral venue. As in 2009, the match was played in Hong Kong, and as on 11 September the game was won with a dramatic late comeback. On this occasion the Wallabies, having led early in the match, found themselves 19–24 down as the hooter went, but with possession in the All Black 22. The Wallabies recycled through numerous phases of possession, until finally the ball was passed wide to James O'Connor, who beat the scrambling All Black defence to touch down and level the scores. The 20-year-old winger then kicked the resulting conversion to win the match for the Wallabies, ending New Zealand's recent domination of the fixture. Subsequently, (2011–2014) the All Blacks have won eight of the last eleven games played, with two drawn, continuing their domination. This included a crucial 20–6 victory over the Wallabies in the 2011 World Cup Semi-final to enable to All Blacks to progress to the final and subsequently win the World Cup.

Rugby Championship era (since 2012)

Starting in 2012, the Tri Nations competition was renamed The Rugby Championship, and now includes

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. On 17 August 2013 the All Blacks celebrated their 100th win over the Wallabies with a 47–29 victory in Sydney. After a shock 12–12 draw in Sydney in the first game of the 2014 series, which ended the All Blacks' attempt at the record of 18 straight wins for a major rugby nation, the All Blacks posted their highest ever score against Australia with a 51–20 victory at Eden Park on 23 August 2014. In 2022, matches between Australia and

were reduced from a minimum of three per year, to two per year until 2025.

Results

Pre World War I (1903–1914)

The first Test between Australia and New Zealand was played on 15 August 1903 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Despite the Wallabies losing 22–3 this tour greatly increased the popularity of rugby and large crowds started attending grade matches in Sydney and Brisbane. New Zealand winger

Billy Wallace William Joseph Wallace (2 August 1878 – 2 March 1972) was a New Zealand rugby union footballer and foundryman. Wallace won his first Test cap for New Zealand on 15 August 1903 against Australia. He was a member of the legendary 1905 Original ...

scored thirteen of their twenty-two points.

XV results (1920–1928)

From 1920 to 1928, twenty-four matches took place for which Australia retrospectively awarded test caps and test match status.

did not award test caps. Out of these twenty-four matches, Australia won six,

eighteen.

Pre World War II (1929–1938)

Australia's Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by a ...

last Test before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

was against

in July 1914. The sports authorities in Australia decided it was unpatriotic to play rugby while thousands of young Australian men were being sent overseas to fight. This resulted in competitions all but closed down in

and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. In

regular competitions did not commence again until 1928. As a result, players switched to

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

in large numbers. Even though there was no Australia/New Zealand game after the war before 1929, twenty-four games were held between

and New Zealand XV from 1920 to 1928. The results were eighteen victories against six for the

with sixteen games taking place in Sydney,

(most of them at the Royal Agricultural Society Ground) and the rest in

. Those games are counted as Australia/New Zealand on the IRB website. Also 1931 saw the first game played competing for the

. However the "official" first

match wasn't played until

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hiro ...

Post War (1946–1974)

The first test following

World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

was played at

Carisbrook Carisbrook (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Carisbrook Stadium) was a major sporting venue in Dunedin, New Zealand. The city's main domestic and international rugby union venue, it was also used for other sports such as cricket, football, r ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

between Australia and

in 1946, which

won 31–8. Australia did not win on the three-match tour; beaten 20–0 by New Zealand Māori, and then losing 14–10 to

the following week. The 1949 tour witnessed an infamous

record – the loss of two test matches on the same day. This was made possible because

New Zealand's New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country b ...

first team (and best thirty players) were touring

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

at the same time. On the afternoon of 3 September

captained by J. B. Smith was beaten 11–6 by the

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

. On 23 September

also lost their second Test, 16–9, which gave the

the

for the first time.

Full amateur tours (1978–1995)

The period before the game finally turned

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

was fairly brief and saw the final touring years between the two sides. It was also the period in which the first

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

, co-hosted between Australia and

, was played. Between 1978 and 1995, Australia and

toured each other five and six times, respectively. The two teams played each other thirty-six times,

winning twenty-one of them, Australia fourteen.

Professional era (since 1995)

Since the professional era, Australia and

have played each other consistently every year. Sometimes up to four times in a single year (2008, 2009, 2010, 2020), which is more times than any other two sides. Overall since the mid 1990s, the two teams have played each other over seventy times, including the 2003 Rugby World Cup Semi-final, the 2011 Rugby World Cup Semi-final and the

2015 Rugby World Cup Final The 2015 Rugby World Cup Final was a rugby union match to determine the winner of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, played between reigning champions New Zealand and their rivals Australia on 31 October 2015 at Twickenham Stadium in London. New Zealand ...

. Currently in the "professional era",

holds over fifty victories, with Australia holing eighteen.

List of series

Notes

References

External links

Complete List of all Results
at ESPN {{DEFAULTSORT:Australia and New Zealand Australia national rugby union team matches New Zealand national rugby union team matches Rugby union rivalries in Australia Rugby union rivalries in New Zealand Australia–New Zealand sports relations