The Original All Blacks
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The Original All Blacks (also known simply as "The Originals") were the first
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national
rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
team to tour outside
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. They toured the
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, France and the United States of America during 1905–1906. Their opening game, on 16 September 1905, was against
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
whom they defeated 55–4. They defeated every English side that they faced, including a 16–3 victory over English county champions
Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
, and a 32–0 victory over
Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...
. They defeated
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
,
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, and
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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 Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
at
Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British ...
. A try claimed by winger
Bob Deans Robert George Deans (19 February 1884 – 30 September 1908) was a New Zealand and Canterbury rugby union footballer. In 1905, Deans entered New Zealand rugby folklore for his disallowed try against Wales in the famous '' Match of the Century''. ...
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
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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
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.


History


Background

After the formation of the
New Zealand Rugby Football 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 ...
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 ) , 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 ...
(although an earlier team had toured Britain and Australia in 1888–1889). New Zealand's first Test match was in 1903 when they played
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in Sydney. New Zealand's first home Test was played the following year when they defeated Britain at Athletic Park,
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 me ...
, 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 David Revell "Darkie" Bedell-Sivright (8 December 1880 – 5 September 1915) was a Scottish international rugby union forward who captained both Scotland and the British Isles. Born in Edinburgh, and educated at Fettes College where he l ...
, 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 (one of whom would eventually not tour due to injury). 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
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. The team departed for England aboard the ''Rimutaka'' on 30 July. There were two ports of call on the journey –
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, and
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– before their arrival in
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
, England. The day after their arrival on 8 September, the squad travelled to
Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the So ...
, 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 Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, 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 Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
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
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, 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
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, 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
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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 James Hunter (6 March 1879 – 4 December 1962) was a rugby union footballer who played for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks. accessdate=2007-11-14 He played mainly at second five-eighth, although he could play any position in the bac ...
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 (SRU) 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 (minus expenses). Due to a big attendance, the NZRFU received a fee of over £1700 for the game. Although the SRU were very happy with this (they offered the same terms to the Springboks when they toured in 1906), 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 The Calcutta Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the rugby match between England and Scotland played annually in the Six Nations Championship. Like the match itself (England–Scotland), the Calcutta Cup is the oldest trophy contested be ...
match was cancelled. The game was played on 18 November on an icy pitch (straw had not been spread over the pitch the night before), 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
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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 Bill Cunningham may refer to: People *Bill Cunningham (rugby union) (1874–1927), New Zealand rugby union player * Bill Cunningham (footballer), Irish international footballer active in the 1890s *Bill Cunningham (infielder) (1886–1946), profe ...
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.


Ireland

The welcome extended by the
Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...
(IRFU) was in contrast to that of Scotland. The morning they arrived in Belfast they were met by several IRFU officials who took them out for breakfast. The arrival in Ireland also marked a homecoming for the captain
Dave Gallaher David Gallaher (30October 1873 – 4October 1917) was an Irish-born New Zealand rugby union footballer best remembered as the captain of the " Original All Blacks"—the 1905–06 New Zealand national team, the first representative New Zealan ...
, who was born in County Donegal, but had moved to New Zealand at the age of four. Thousands awaited the All Blacks when they arrived in the Dublin train station. On the Thursday before the Test, both teams attended the theatre together; sitting alternatively so they could better mix. The sold out Test was played on Saturday 25 November at
Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...
. The 12,000 that turned up did not get to see Gallaher though, as he was injured. Simon Mynott was also selected to play on the wing despite having never played there before, and there being three three-quarters available. For a 30-minute period in the first half the Irish forwards dominated, however the deadlock was broken close to half time when
Bob Deans Robert George Deans (19 February 1884 – 30 September 1908) was a New Zealand and Canterbury rugby union footballer. In 1905, Deans entered New Zealand rugby folklore for his disallowed try against Wales in the famous '' Match of the Century''. ...
scored a try under the posts; Wallace converted the try giving the All Blacks a 5–0 half-time lead. Early in the second half Deans scored another try; again converted by Wallace. Smith lost the ball over the line before Alex McDonald scored the All Blacks third and final try. Wallace successfully converted to give the All Blacks a 15–0 victory. The All Blacks then headed to
Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...
for their one other game in Ireland. Not all of the team travelled for the match against Munster, and Dixon had even tried to get the All Blacks out of the game. The match played on Tuesday 28 November was won 33–0 by the All Blacks. The eight tries witnessed by the 3,000 strong crowd included a penalty try after
Fred Roberts Frederick Clark Roberts (born August 14, 1960) is an American former basketball player who played power forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 13 seasons, a career spanning from 1983 to 1997, becoming a successful journeymen in ...
was tripped close to the line.


England

Following the Munster match the All Blacks returned to England. Due to its larger capacity, the game was played at
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(which had an official capacity of 50,000) rather than Blackheath. Despite the official capacity, it is estimated between 70,000 and 100,000 people attended the match; many of them non-paying spectators. The 100,000 spectators, including the Prince of Wales (the future
King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...
), was a record for a rugby or football match in London. The England Test was the All Blacks' third international in as many weeks; they had been played on successive Saturdays, with a mid-week match between each. England named eight new caps in their side, and played a rover (or wing-forward) on top of seven forwards. The game has been described as "a benefit for All Black wing Duncan McGregor". He scored four tries in the Test—a record not equalled by an All Black until 1987. A try was also scored by Fred Newton, and with none of the five tries converted, the score finished 15–0. English sportsman
C. B. Fry Charles Burgess Fry (25 April 1872 – 7 September 1956) was an English sportsman, teacher, writer, editor and publisher, who is best remembered for his career as a cricketer. John Arlott described him with the words: "Charles Fry could b ...
said after the match, "The notion that these men beat us because of our physical degeneracy is nonsense. They beat us by organisation and by tactics." A legacy of this match is that the whistle used by the referee, Gil Evans, has been used to start the opening match of every Rugby World Cup tournament. Between tournaments the whistle is housed at the New Zealand Rugby Museum in Palmerston North and was donated to them by the chairman of the NZRFU and manager of the 1924–25 All Blacks. The All Blacks had three more games before their Wales Test Their first was again Cheltenham on 6 December at Cheltenham. The match was won by the All Blacks 18–0 after they scored four tries; three of them by Abbott. The next match was at Birkenhead against Cheshire. The All Blacks scored 10 tries and recorded their biggest win in nearly a month. The final score witnessed by the 8,000 strong crowd at Birkenhead Park was 34–0. The All Blacks' last match before facing Wales was against Yorkshire in
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
. The game was played in Northern Union territory, and there were many league scouts trying to recruit All Black squad members to the rival code. 24,000 spectators watched as the All Blacks won 40–0, which included 10 tries.


Wales Test

The Originals' Test against Wales is still considered one of sport's great matches. The Test was played at
Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British ...
, 16 December 1905 in front of 47,000 spectators. The All Blacks were applauded onto the park where they performed their
haka Haka (; plural ''haka'', in both Māori and English) are a variety of ceremonial performance art in Māori culture. It is often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted or chanted accompani ...
in front of a silent crowd. Once they had applauded their haka, the crowd, led by 'Teddy' Morgan, sang the Welsh national anthem ''
Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau "" () is the official national anthem of Wales. The title, taken from the first words of the song, means "Old Land of My Fathers" in Welsh, usually rendered in English as simply "Land of My Fathers". The words were written by Evan James and ...
'' (Land of My Fathers). The match was reportedly the first time a national anthem had been sung before a sporting fixture. The lead-up to the match was controversial. The All Blacks' manager George Dixon and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) could not agree on a referee. Dixon rejected all of the WRU's proposed referees, and the WRU all of Dixon's. The rules of the day dictated that in such a case the WRU could ask another union to appoint a referee. They asked the Scotland Rugby Union, who appointed Scotsman John Dallas. As well as the referee, the selection of Mynott at
first five-eighth In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...
over Billy Stead was highly controversial. Several explanations were given for Stead's omission. One was that he was originally selected, but gave up his spot in the team for a disappointed Mynott. The official reason given for Stead's omission was injury—although he was fit enough to act as
touch judge A touch judge is an official who monitors the touch-line in a game of rugby union or rugby league and raises a flag if the ball (or player carrying it) goes into touch. Touch judges also stand behind the posts to confirm that a goal has been scored ...
during the Test. After the kick-off there was soon a scrum ordered The All Blacks were repeatedly penalised by the referee whenever they had a scrum. The reason for this was the All Blacks 2–3–2 scrum formation where they had only two front-rowers. The Welsh team used a three-man front row, and had studied the All Blacks scrummaging technique. The Welsh countered the All Blacks 2–3–2 scrum formation by setting their front row after the All Blacks, and hence preventing the All Blacks from gaining the loosehead. Consequently, every time the All Blacks tried to hook the ball they were penalised, and this prompted their captain Gallaher to order his team not to contest the scrums, and to instead let the Welsh win the ball. The All Blacks' first-half play was generally considered poor—with aimless kicking to Welsh fullback Winfield who returned much better kicks into touch. The first ten minutes saw New Zealand's Roberts break the line twice only, to be caught by Winfield without support. Eventually Wales had a scrum-feed 25 yards out from the All Blacks' try-line. From this Wales executed a planned move—
Owen Owen may refer to: Origin: The name Owen is of Irish and Welsh origin. Its meanings range from noble, youthful, and well-born. Gender: Owen is historically the masculine form of the name. Popular feminine variations include Eowyn and Owena. ...
got the Wales scrum-ball and dummied on his right to
Bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...
. He then turned left and passed to
Cliff Pritchard Cliff Pritchard (1881–1954) was a Welsh international centre who played club rugby for Newport RFC and Pontypool RFC. Pritchard was capped on five occasions and scored two tries for his country. He is best known as one of the Welsh squad that ...
. Pritchard then passed to Gabe, who passed to Bush, who eventually passed to Morgan. Morgan then raced 25 yards down the touchline, eluding Gillett, to score for Wales. Winfield missed the resulting conversion—leaving the score at 3–0. In the final stages of the first half the All Blacks began to assert themselves and were attacking strongly when half-time was sounded. Dixon claimed half-time was called two minutes early, and Wallace that it was three minutes early. The All Blacks kicked off for the second half and the two teams were evenly matched. The All Blacks
first five-eighth In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...
Mynott was having a poor game—dropping the ball frequently. Eventually Roberts stopped passing to him, and would instead run the ball himself. The Welsh had try-scoring opportunities, but drop-goal attempts and dropped passes prevented them scoring. Some time during the second half (various accounts are given—all identifying different times in the match) the All Blacks got their best attacking opportunity of the match. The Welsh won a line-out on the All Blacks side of half-way and, with the resulting ball, kicked diagonally across-field which was fielded by New Zealand's Wallace. Wallace then ran and broke through the Welsh line before confronting their fullback Winfield. Wallace then passed to Deans who was tackled either on, or near the Welsh line. The referee Dallas awarded a scrum to Wales five yards from their line. A contemporary report states " Morgan sprinted across from the left wing, and helped Winfield to save what otherwise would have been a try by tackling Deans before he grounded the ball, and, though a splendid effort was made by the centre threequarter to straggle over, timely reinforcements came to Morgan, and the ball was grounded between two and three feet from the line, though Deans considers he grounded the ball in goal. The incident was later the subject of different accounts, with
Cliff Pritchard Cliff Pritchard (1881–1954) was a Welsh international centre who played club rugby for Newport RFC and Pontypool RFC. Pritchard was capped on five occasions and scored two tries for his country. He is best known as one of the Welsh squad that ...
,
Rhys Gabe Rhys Thomas "Rusty" Gabe (22 June 1880 – 15 September 1967) born as Rees Thomas Gape,Jenkins (1991), pg 60. was a Welsh rugby union player who played club rugby for Llanelli, London Welsh and Cardiff and gained 24 caps for Wales, mainly as a c ...
and Welsh captain Gwyn Nicholls claiming to have been among the tacklers and in a good position to see that the ball was grounded short of the line, while Morgan believed a try should have been awarded.Davis J. C
Old Welsh Rugby Heroes Foregather at the Microphone
'' The Referee'', Sydney, 13 February 1936, at
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Thomas (1979), pg39.Parry-Jones (1999), pg 156. The All Blacks had further opportunities to score during the match, with Mynott held up over the line, Deans nearly scoring before being tackled by the Welsh, and McGregor nearly scoring except for a forward pass.


Welsh games

Following the Wales Test Dixon and the WRU continued to clash over referee appointments. The dispute escalated to the point where Dixon threatened to pull out of the All Blacks' remaining Welsh fixtures. The WRU responded by threatening to cancel the fixtures if their referee choices were rejected. The dispute was resolved when the chairman of the RFU,
Rowland Hill Sir Rowland Hill, KCB, FRS (3 December 1795 – 27 August 1879) was an English teacher, inventor and social reformer. He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of Uniform Penny Post and his soluti ...
, got the WRU to accept Gil Evans (a Welshman from
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
) as referee for the final three matches. Gil Evans had refereed the All Blacks versus England Test and was well respected by the New Zealanders. The All Blacks played Glamorgan in Swansea on 21 December. The All Blacks had the advantage of the wind in the first 30 minutes. Late in the first half Roberts worked a move from a scrum to pass to Smith, who passed to Harold Abbott. Abbott then passed back to Smith who scored in the corner. In the second half Glamorgan attacked but could not score, and late in the game the All Blacks scored tries to McDonald and Wallace to win 9–0. Two days later the All Blacks faced Newport at the
city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
's Athletic Ground. The All Blacks scored a try early to
Eric Harper Eric Tristram Harper (1 December 1877 – 30 April 1918) was a New Zealand sportsman and lawyer, who is most notable for playing rugby union for the New Zealand national rugby union team and in 1905 became one of the Original All Blacks when he ...
and Wallace recalled "It looked as though we were going to win comfortably." Wallace then scored a penalty for the All Blacks and they ended the first half ahead 6–0. Newport's Rowland Griffiths scored a penalty early in the second half but, despite their strong display in the second half, they could not score again and the All Blacks won 6–3. The next game was against
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
on 26 December. It was billed as a virtual second Test against a side that boasted several Test players. The match was played at Cardiff Arms Park in front of 50,000 spectators. After a missed drop goal and missed penalty Cardiff scored with a try to Nicholls that was set up by Gabe. The conversion was successful giving Cardiff a 5–0 lead. about 20 minutes into the match Jimmie O'Sullivan broke his collarbone after being tackled heavily; as a result the All Blacks played the rest of the match with only 14 men. The All Blacks attacked with every opportunity they could and before half time Mona Thomson scored in the corner for the All Blacks. Wallace converted the try to leave the scores 5–5 at half time. For the first 30 minutes of the second half the two teams attacked one after the other. After Cardiff captain Percy Bush failed to force down a ball behind his own goal-line George Nicholson dived on the ball to score a try. Wallace converted to give the All Blacks a 10–5 lead. Cardiff responded by scoring a try themselves, but Winfield failed to convert it and the All Blacks won 10–8. The loss was Cardiff's only loss of the season, and the next year they defeated the touring
South Africans The population of South Africa is about 58.8 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions. The South African National Census of 2022 was the most recent census held; the next will be in 2032. In 2011, Statistics South ...
17–0. The All Blacks' last match in the British Isles was against
Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
at Saint Helen's Ground on 30 December. Swansea had only lost once in over two seasons (to Cardiff) and were the champion club team of Great Britain. Wallace said of the match "This was the thirty-second match of the tour and our hearts rejoiced at the thought that this was to be the last." The first half was mainly spent in All Blacks territory as they struggled to gain ground kicking into a strong wind and, after 25 minutes, Swansea scored a try through Fred Scrine that was unconverted. The half finished 3–0 to Swansea. The All Blacks playing with the wind to their backs nearly scored a try to McGregor but he was ruled to have stepped out. However, soon after, Wallace gained possession and ran towards Swansea's 25-yard line before kicking a drop-goal in the strong wind to give the All Blacks a 4–3 lead. The All Blacks then kept forcing Swansea back with kick after kick for the next 15 minutes to win the match 4–3. The loss to Wales and the fact that they had only narrowly avoided losing to all of the Welsh club teams confirmed Wales as the pre-eminent rugby force of this era.


France and North America

The All Blacks travelled to Paris on New Year's Eve and on 1 January faced
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
at
Parc des Princes Parc des Princes () is an all-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin ...
. The match was France's first Test ever. French captain Henri Amand gave the All Blacks choice of ends and the kick off. Although the All Blacks dominated, France scored a try to Noel Cessieux in the first half; the half ended 18–3 to the All Blacks. Georges Jérôme then scored for France after the break to make it 18–8 for the All Blacks. The All Blacks ended up scoring another six tries for a total of ten, and a 38–8 win. The eight points, and two tries scored by France were as many as any team in the British Isles had against the All Blacks. After spending several days sight seeing around Paris, the All Blacks returned to London. Instead of returning to New Zealand directly, they discovered that New Zealand Prime Minister
Richard Seddon Richard John Seddon (22 June 1845 – 10 June 1906) was a New Zealand politician who served as the List of prime ministers of New Zealand, 15th Prime Minister of New Zealand, premier (prime minister) of New Zealand from 1893 until his death. ...
had organised for the team to travel home via the United States. Although the team wanted to return home immediately, Seddon insisted. The All Blacks had two weeks before they departed. Many of them stayed with friends or relatives, while Stead and Gallaher wrote ''The Complete Rugby Footballer''. The team reassembled on 19 January and were farewelled by a dinner with the London New Zealand Society before departing Southampton on the SS New York the next day. After arriving in New York City, they stayed for several days and an exhibition game was organised. The match was played in Brooklyn and was supposed to be New Zealand versus New York, however several New Zealanders played for New York to make up their numbers. Despite this New Zealand won the match. The team then travelled to San Francisco, via the
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...
, Chicago, and the
Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...
. In San Francisco they played two matches against British Columbia; the first won 43–6 and the second 65–6. From there they sailed back to New Zealand.


Innovations and tactics

The Original All Blacks introduced several innovations to rugby in France and the British Isles. At the time of their tour many critics in the Northern Hemisphere blamed the use of the wing–forward for the All Blacks success. These critics claimed this player—who fed the ball into the scrum—would obstruct opposition players, and that the only reason they were not being penalised was due to poor refereeing. Their success however was due to a combination of factors, the most important being the team's discipline and organisation, which was described at the time as a ''scientific'' approach. Each forward in the team had a specific role in the scrum; they would each have a predetermined position within the scrum. This was different from their opposition— their forwards' position in a scrum was determined by the order in which they arrived. This was described as "first-up, first-down", and meant that the All Blacks were better drilled—giving them a significant advantage. The All Blacks had also practised their line-outs, and as a result had a very good understanding between the player that threw in the line-out ball, and the player who was supposed to receive it. The All Blacks back-line formation was also different from that in Britain. They played two five-eighths, a position invented in New Zealand, that refers to the player between the half-back and three-quarters. These two five-eighths gave the All Blacks a defensive advantage. The British press were also surprised to see All Blacks fullback Billy Wallace attacking so often—They had generally viewed the fullback as a defensive position. The All Blacks also thought that every player, whether a back or a forward, should make themselves available to take a pass in support of an attacking player. The teams they encountered had forwards that understood their main role of winning possession for their backs, but would not support them when attacking. The other major factor that helped the All Blacks to success was their superior fitness. In New Zealand each half was 45 minutes, not 35 like in Britain. As well as that, the All Blacks spent much time on fitness. This enabled them to play with speed much longer than their opposition.


Name

The New Zealand test side was not always called the All Blacks, (in the early days they were called Maorilanders, the New Zealanders or even the Colonials), they were given that name during their famous 1905 tour to the British Isles, France and Canada. The 1884 side mentioned above had for its uniform a dark blue jersey with a gold fernleaf over the left breast, dark knickerbockers, and stockings. It was certainly not “All Black”. After the formation of the New Zealand Rugby Union in 1892, it was resolved that the New Zealand representative colours should be “…Black Jersey with Silver Fernleaf, Black Cap with Silver Monogram, White Knickerbockers and Black Stockings…” on the motion of Mr WEllison and seconded by Mr King. This was the standard uniform for some years, though photographs of the 1894 and 1896 teams show that white shorts, and not knickerbockers, were worn. There is no photograph of the 1897 team in uniform–in the official photograph they are shown wearing long trousers–but in the New Zealand Graphic of 14 August 1897 there is a cartoon of a New Zealand footballer wearing a black jersey and white shorts. For the 1905 tour the shorts were changed to black. The "Express & Echo in Devon appears to be the first to use the term All-blacks when it recorded the day the 1905 touring side beat Devon 55-4 in their first game, "The All Blacks, as they are styled by reason of their sable and unrelieved costume, were under the guideance of their captain (Mr Gallaher), and their fine physique favorably impressed the spectators". By 11 October the Daily Mail by Buttery, had also picked this up and reference “All Black” play and its complement, “All Black Cameraderie”. From then on the new name gradually won acceptance, so much so that by early November, following the match with Surrey (1 November), the Daily Mail made direct mention of the All Black team “that everybody is talking about”. It is also interesting to note that on 15 November 1905 the term “Blacks” had even appeared in the pages of Punch which printed a number of stanzas dealing with the shortcomings of Seddon, the last running as follows: Can it be your head is turned By your team of Rugby “Blacks”? Has the glory they have earned Set you trotting in their tracks? Well, it's not mere weight and gristle, You must also play the game, Or the referee may whistle And you'll have yourself to blame If you get a free kick where you don't expect the same. Although the new name “caught on” so quickly in Britain, its acceptance in New Zealand was much slower. Seddon, for instance, with that political opportunism which both irritated and amused his opponents, followed up each victory with congratulatory cablegrams addressed to “the colony's football team” (mid-October) or “the New Zealand football team” (4 December). The newspapers were equally tardy in adopting the term but by 21 November the New Zealand Herald referred to the “Triumphal March of the Blacks”. A few weeks later (6 December) it headed a column “ ‘All Black’ Gossip”; editorially, however, it always used the more formal term, “New Zealand Footballers”. Thus on 5 March 1906, the day of the team's arrival at Auckland, the Herald editorially acclaimed the “New Zealand Footballers”, but on the following day it headed its report of the official function of welcome with a bold double-column caption “Return of the All Blacks”. Meanwhile, throughout the country special shop window displays and feature advertisements “to mark the return of the All Blacks” suddenly appeared. The “All Blacks” had indeed arrived.


Results

:''Scores and results list New Zealand's points tally first.''


Squad

The squad, manager, and coach for the Northern Hemisphere tour: Manager – George Dixon
Coach – Jimmy Duncan


See also

* 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team * History of rugby union matches between All Blacks and France


Notes


References


Sources

Books and articles * * * * * * News * Web * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Original All Blacks 1905 rugby union tours 1906 rugby union tours New Zealand national rugby union team tours of Europe 1905 1905 1905 1905 1905 1905 in New Zealand rugby union Originals 1905–06 in British rugby union 1905–06 in French rugby union