The All Blacks XV is the second national
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
team of New Zealand, after the
All Blacks
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...
. New Zealand's second national team has had numerous names in its history: Junior All Blacks, New Zealand XV, New Zealand A, New Zealand B, All Blacks XV.
Matches played as the 'All Blacks XV' are not test matches and are usually against a touring side or, when on tour, against non-top tier rugby nations or club teams.
History
The NZ Juniors (U23s), popularly known as the ''Junior All Blacks'', had been active from 1958 to 1984 playing 7 international matches. They were disbanded in 1984 and replaced by a non-age restricted team called the ''New Zealand Emerging Players.'' The Emerging Players were active in 1985 and 1986 but only played internal tours in fixtures against New Zealand provincial sides. In 2006, the team was formally reintroduced and repurposed as the second national team when they competed in the inaugural
Pacific Nations Cup.
In 1991 a New Zealand XV played both
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
and
USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
in the 'test' fixtures of their tours to New Zealand.
In 1991 a New Zealand B team played
Australia B during their
Tour to Australia.
In 1992 a New Zealand XV team beat
England B in two matches during the tourists 8-game tour.
In 1998 a New Zealand A team lost 10–18 to the
England touring side in Hamilton.
In 2005 a New Zealand A team played two matches against
Australia A.
In 2006, the second team was re-branded as the Junior All Blacks, inheriting the nickname of the previous New Zealand U23 team. This second XV participated in the 2006, 2007 and 2009
Pacific Nations Cup. In 2008 the
Maori All Blacks played in this tournament. The Junior All Blacks were put into a hiatus shortly after the 2009 tournament. The side was then reinstated in 2019, but their first set of games were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, the team was re-branded once again as the All Blacks XV for matches against Ireland A and the Barbarians. The All Blacks XV was launched as NZR’s next senior national representative team after the
All Blacks
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...
, as a critical high-performance pathway to the All Blacks. As the next senior national representative side, the All Blacks XV will have the same high expectations as the other Teams in Black. The All Blacks XV follows in the footsteps of similar teams which have assembled throughout New Zealand rugby's history, including the Junior All Blacks, New Zealand A and Emerging Players.
Results
Below is a summary of All Blacks XV match results (updated 10 November 2024):
Current squad
The All Blacks XV squad for their
2024 Northern Tour with matches against Irish provincial side
Munster
Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...
and
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
,
as updated on 30 October 2024.
Players in bold are players capped by the senior New Zealand national team, the
All Blacks
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...
.
Head Coach:
Clayton McMillan
*
Peter Lakai,
Christian Lio-Willie and
Josh Lord were initially named in the All Blacks XV squad, but later joined the All Blacks as injury replacements for
Ethan Blackadder,
Luke Jacobson and
Dalton Papali'i.
*
Emoni Narawa and
Hoskins Sotutu were initially named in the All Blacks XV squad but had to withdraw due to injury.
*
Caleb Delany,
Devan Flanders,
Corey Kellow and
Simon Parker weren’t named in the original All Blacks XV squad, but were brought in as replacements for Lakai, Lio-Willie, Lord and Sotutu.
*
Ruben Love wasn’t named in the original All Blacks XV squad, but joined the squad from the All Blacks to get more game time.
See also
*
New Zealand national schoolboy rugby union team
*
New Zealand national under-19 rugby union team
*
New Zealand national under-20 rugby union team
*
New Zealand national under-21 rugby union team
*
Maori All Blacks
*
All Blacks
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...
References
{{Pacific Nations Cup
Junior
Second national rugby union teams