All Blacks retain Bledisloe Cup. New Zealand public had a glimpse of how Rugby's future looks.
New Zealand and Australia are meeting for the 148th time, extending the world record for matches between one pair of countries. The figure does not include 24 matches between New Zealand and New South Wales in the 1920s, when it was argued rugby was only played in the one state of Australia although this was not strictly true. Australia raised those matches to test status in 1986; New Zealand has never considered them full internationals. As an aside, New Zealand won 18 of them and New South Wales six.
New Zealand recorded its 100th win against Australia at Sydney (by the New Zealand count; the Australian records show New Zealand winning 118), which is by far the most one team has won over another. The All Blacks therefore raised a memorable ton and set another test landmark that will not be matched by anyone else for many years; the country with the next most wins over any opponent is England, who have beaten Ireland 73 times – so even if England don’t lose again until they’ve raised the century, it will still take them some time until at least the late 2030’s before they get there.
It is likely that at some stage this year New Zealand will take over as the team with most test wins; New Zealand has won 380 of its 502 test matches to date and only France (382 wins in 695 tests) has more victories, and that gap has been shrinking fast in recent seasons.
The All Blacks have held the Bledisloe Cup continuously since 2003, which means they have racked up ten years as holder. While impressive, this is nowhere near the record, which was established by New Zealand between 1951 and 1978. In that time the All Blacks won or shared 13 series. When Australia ended the run by winning in 1979 they also closed a 45-year losing streak to the All Blacks at home, having not won in Australia since 1934.
New Zealand has played 13 tests against Australia at ANZ Stadium, and has established a win credit over the Wallabies at the ground for the first time. Going into last week’s test, the All Blacks were even for only second time, after 2000 when it was 1-1. New Zealand won two other matches there in the 2003 World Cup, against Wales and France.
Click on the link below for a sneak peek of the game:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11113942
