It wasn't until long later that the game played in Nelson on May 14, 1870, was officially recognized as New Zealand's first organized game of rugby. It was the first official game to incorporate the complete rugby regulations proposed by Monro, as well as the oval ball. The Nelson club beat their opponents, the Masons, by a goal score of 3 goals to 0.
Rugby has become one of the most popular sports in New Zealand, with over 100,000 players participating in some form of rugby activity. The national team is called the All Blacks because they are the only men's international side named after its original home country of England. However, other countries have formed unions with New Zealanders and thus been granted test status, most notably Australia. The Australians won both matches against New Zealand during the early years of rugby union but now play only once every four years against an All Black side.
There are three major codes of rugby in New Zealand: rugby league, rugby union, and soccer. Each code has its own national governing body which sets rules and regulations for competition. In addition to these national bodies, there are also provincial organizations which manage local competitions within their respective provinces.
Rugby union is the most popular code in New Zealand. Teams are made up of 15 players plus a captain who is selected by his teammates before each match.
Hammond coached Auckland in 1978 and 1979. The New Zealand Rugby League Museum opened in December 2007 at Rugby League House, 7 Beasley Avenue, Penrose, Auckland, and was expanded in late 2010.
On May 14, 1870, he organized the inaugural rugby match between Nelson College and Nelson Football Club in his hometown of Nelson. When New Zealand's national rugby team (the All Blacks) visited the United Kingdom in 1905, they observed the burgeoning popularity of the non-amateur Northern Union games.
It was also the game in which New Zealand gained the moniker "All Blacks." England and New Zealand's national rugby union teams have been facing each other in Test match rugby since 1905, and have played a total of 42 Test matches since then. These are the most recent ones: England won 19-3 at Twickenham on April 2, 2013.
The first international between England and New Zealand was held on November 4, 1905, at the Athletic Ground in Richmond. The match ended in a 3-3 draw. It was not until five years later that England defeated New Zealand for the first time. The first World Cup final was also played between these two countries, with New Zealand winning 5-3.
England and New Zealand have been the two dominant nations in rugby union throughout its history, with both countries winning almost every single match they have played against each other.
However, it is important to note that Australia has won 15 out of the 42 matches played between England and New Zealand, including four out of five world cups finals. Therefore, the true rivalries of rugby union are between Australia and England, and Australia and New Zealand.
Australia joined the British Empire in 1875, playing their first international match eight years later. England won this series 1-0.
1893 The New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU) was formed in 1892 to serve as the sport's national governing body. The first NZRFU national-sanctioned trip was a ten-game tour to Australia in 1893, after the formation of the national governing body. The Australian rugby union community had been debating formation of a national body for some time, but the NZRFU arrived too late to participate in that process.
The All Blacks lost only one match on their tour, which was against a Melbourne University XV at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The final score was 24 points to 13 in favor of the Australians. Two months later, the two countries met again in Sydney, this time with a full international match being played between Australia and New Zealand. The tourists from Down Under won that match 33 points to 3.
Australia has never been defeated by New Zealand on foreign soil.
The All Blacks have won every single test they've played against Australia, including three series victories. The most recent meeting between the two nations was in August 2015, when New Zealand won 35 to 26 in Wellington. That victory also saw the All Blacks claim their ninth consecutive Test match win over Australia. This is an all-time record for any country against another. England has held the record previously but has been beaten by South Africa in recent years.
New Zealand is still unbeaten against all other countries that have played them.
How did it become so well-known? The Maori, New Zealand's original population, had been playing a game quite similar to Aussie Rules long before immigrants arrived. When the English immigrants arrived on the island, they brought rugby with them, which the Maoris rapidly accepted. The early games were very rough and used wood instead of metal for objects kicked off the field. This is why it isn't surprising that many rules were created to keep players safe.
These rules are still used today, except that there are now helmets that players can wear. These helmets are important because they prevent serious injury by taking the impact of collisions away from the head.
The first rugby match was played in 1823 between two schools in Canterbury, New Zealand. It ended in a tie! Both teams then traveled to Rotorua where another school held its own match. The winners of this game decided the winner of the entire event. That's how famous rugby has become in New Zealand.
After these initial games, women's rugby began to grow in popularity. In 1879, the first international women's game was played between Scotland and England. It wasn't until much later that men's rugby began to grow in popularity abroad. In 1906, France and Wales played the first men's international match. Since then, men's rugby has become more popular overseas than in New Zealand.
Rugby club Grafton (1874), Ponsonby (1874), College Rifles (1897), Marist (1908), University (1888), Grammar (1914), and Suburbs (1914) were among the first clubs to be established in Auckland (1918). They all played a version of the game then known as "rugby". Today, most New Zealand-based clubs play a form of rugby that's called "union". That's the style of rugby that Grafton, Ponsonby, and Marist played when they were founded.
There are still occasional matches between old boys of these schools. For example, there was one in August 2008 when Marist took on Grafton at Te Aro Park. The two schools have nothing else in common except for their age: Marist is a modern school with grounds named after King Maori Ruatara, while Grafton has links with the British Empire through its founder Sir George Grafton.
These days, most Union games are between teams from different schools or universities, but some Old Boy matches do take place between former pupils of the same school. For example, there was a match between the students of Grafton and Marist in 1958, and another between the sons of Sir George Grafton and those of his partner William Seagar (the first principal of Auckland University) in 1969.
Copyright © 2020 - 2023 Sportsmanist Inc.
