There has been some discussion on The Roar recently about players with big reputations not performing against the All Blacks.
Even the great Brian O’Driscoll’s legacy has been questioned because in 14 games he never best New Zealand – though he did score three tries, kick two drop goals and produce some outstanding individual moments of class for a country that has never beaten the All Blacks.
The All Blacks have won 390 out of 512 Test matches. Many of the greats have never tasted success against the mighty Kiwis.
But which players really ‘brought it’ against the All Blacks? Here is a list of a select few.
Matt Burke – Australia
Matt Burke holds the record for most points against the All Blacks with 176 (7 tries, 9 conversions, 41 penalties). He played 17 games against New Zealand and won 8 of them. In 1996 he scored a memorable 70-metre try in a narrow 25-32 defeat in Brisbane.
In 1998 he was a key player in Australia’s 3-0 sweep of the Bledisloe Cup. He scored all of Australia’s 24 points in an 8-point victory at the MCG, in Christchurch he scored a try in a 27-23 win, and in Sydney he sustained a serious shoulder injury after scoring a last-minute try to win Australia another classic tussle, 19-14.
In 1999, Burke kicked seven penalties in a record 28-7 win in Sydney.
In 2001 Burke scored more than half of the Wallabies points in a series sweep. In Jonah Lomu’s 50th Test in Dunedin, Burke scored 18 out of 23 points in an 8-point triumph, Australia’s last in New Zealand.
He then scored 14 out of Australia’s 29 points in John Eales’ last Test, Australia won after a last minute try by Toutai Kefu.
In 2002, things got even better for Burke when he kicked a penalty on fulltime to retain the Bledisloe Cup in Sydney, 16-14.
John Eales – Australia
John Eales had a winning record after 20 Tests against the All Blacks, a feat not matched by any player in the history of Test rugby. Eales won 11 times against New Zealand.
His first win against New Zealand was on August 10, 1991 in Sydney, Australia won 21-12. That same year he played in the World Cup semi-final won 16-6 by Australia.
As a captain, Eales had a 6-5 record against New Zealand. His most famous moment was kicking a last-minute penalty in Wellington to retain the Bledisloe Cup, 24-23.
Other Wallabies to really flourish against the All Blacks include George Gregan, who won a record 12 times in 27 Tests against the All Blacks. His most famous moment was tackling Jeff Wilson into touch to win the one-off 1994 Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney.
David Campese won 10 times in 29 Tests and scored eight tries. His most famous game was the 1991 World Cup semi-final, where he scored a try and created another for Tim Horan.
Okey Geffen – South Africa
In 1949, the Springboks beat the All Blacks 4-0 in a four-Test series, despite the All Blacks scoring more tries in three of the four Tests.
Goal-kicking prop Okey Geffen was responsible for the demise of the All Blacks. He kicked 32 out of South Africa’s 47 points in the series. In the first Test he kicked all five penalties in a 15-11 win. In the third Test he kicked three penalties in a 9-3 win.
Geffen spent three years in POW camps in Italy, Germany and Poland, where he practiced his kicking barefoot near a mass grave of Polish victims of the Nazis.
Modern Springboks who have performed strongly against the All Blacks are Bryan Habana and Morne Steyn. Habana has scored 7 tries in 19 Tests and won 7 times. Morne Steyn has enjoyed 4 wins and scored 124 points in 11 Tests. Steyn scored a record 31 points against the All Blacks in 2009.
Hugo Porta – Argentina
Argentina has never beaten the All Blacks, but Hugo Porta ensured that the Pumas achieved their best result against New Zealand in 1985.
At Ferrocaril Oeste, Porta kicked four penalties and three conversions as the Pumas earned a 21-21 draw, despite being outscored four tries to nil.
Porta scored 65 points in 7 Tests in total. Three times he passed double figures and in Dunedin in 1979 against a New Zealand XV, counted as Test matches in Argentina, he kicked drop goals off both feet.
JPR Williams – Wales
JPR Williams never beat the All Blacks with Wales, but he did it three times with the Lions in 1971 and the Barbarians in 1973. In the fourth Test of the Lions series at Eden Park Williams kicked a 45-metre drop goal late in the fourth Test to secure a 14-14 draw and a 2-1 series victory, the only victory achieved by the Lions against the All Blacks.
In 1973 for the Barbarians he helped start the move which resulted in Gareth Edwards ‘try of the century’.
Christophe Lamaison – France
Lamaison played the first of his four Tests against the All Blacks at Athletic Park in Wellington in June 1999. It was a disaster! France lost 54-7.
Three months later, in the World Cup semi-final, Lamaison scored 28 points (1 try, 4 conversions, 3 penalties, 2 drop goals) as France shockingly eliminated New Zealand from the tournament.
The next year, Lamaison started in a two Test series. He scored 16 points in a 39-26 defeat in Paris. In Marseille he was even better, amassing 27 points (3 conversions, 5 penalties, 2 drop goals) in a 42-33 win.
Jean-Luc Sadourny, who played 71 Tests for France between 1991 and 2001, four times in six Tests against New Zealand and scored the ‘try from the end of the world’ at Eden Park in 1994.
Jonny Wilkinson – England
Jonny Wilkinson played in some poor English and Lions teams against the All Blacks, but in the two wins out of seven he achieved against New Zealand he was outstanding.
At Twickenham in 2002 he scored a full-house of 21 points (1 try, 2 conversions, 3 penalties, 1 drop goal) as England edged the All Blacks 31-28, despite two tries by Jonah Lomu.
The following year in Wellington he kicked all 15 points, in windy conditions, as England beat New Zealand by two, despite spending 20 minutes with 13 men.
Prince Alexander Obolensky scored two of the greatest tries ever seen on Twickenham in his only Test against the All Blacks in 1936, England won 13-0!
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