The All Blacks aim for a Grand Slam on their northern tour, facing England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
Success would rank just behind the World Cup in rugby achievements and calm critics.
Key players like Wallace Sititi and Simon Parker have opportunities to establish themselves as first-choice forwards.
It’s been a mixed year for the All Blacks, but if they can achieve a Grand Slam on their northern tour, 2025 would have to be rated as highly successful.
As the All Blacks prepare to assemble, five talking points about a potential Grand Slam All Blacktour.
Because of its rarity, a Grand Slam tour, with wins over England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, surely ranks only behind the World Cup when it comes to rugby achievements.
As far as the quality of rugby goes, the Rugby Championship, involving South Africa, takes second place behind the World Cup. But for many of us, the history of Grand Slams nudges it ahead of the Championship in importance.
It took 74 years for the All Blacks to finally win a Grand Slam in 1978. Since that side, captained by Graham Mourie and coached by Jack Gleeson, just three teams, all coached by Graham Henry, have won Grand Slams on UK tours. The 1995 All Blacks also completed an odd Grand Slam, beating all four teams at that year’s Rugby World Cup in South Africa.
If the 2025 side can win all four tests on this trip, they will not only take their place in history, but might calm down some of their more vociferous critics.
How tough is the challenge?
Huge, and it could be over in the very first test, against Ireland in Chicago. Ireland had 15 players in the Lions squad that toured Australia this winter, and while they slumped from first to third in Six Nations this year, they remain a tough hurdle to clear in an opening game.
If there’s a fragile area, it’s their scrum, but injuries mean the All Blacks will have some intensive work to do in training if they’re to dominate the scrummaging.
Who can shine?
The tour is a chance for several All Blacks forwards to establish themselves as first-choice players. Wallace Sititi had a brilliant start to his test career but niggling injuries have slowed his progress. He now has the perfect opportunity to establish himself as the All Blacks No 8.
Making metres with the ball could be the key to success against the northern sides, and at his best, few are more suited to the job than Sititi.
Another loose forward presented with a golden opportunity is blindside flanker Simon Parker. He has already shown he’s not intimidated by international opponents.
It helps that he’s a giant, at 1.97m and 127kg. By comparison our greatest No 6, Jerome Kaino, was 1.96m and 110kg. But size doesn’t work without attitude and a hugely promising aspect with Parker is that his mental approach appears to be as strong as his physicality.
Centre has been a problem position in the current side (notwithstanding Quinn Tupaea’s successful run in the second test against the Wallabies). Scott Robertson and his selection panel obviously were not satisfied with what Rieko Ioane was providing there, and Billy Proctor has struggled to reproduce his outstanding form in Super Rugby at international level.
The return from France of Leicester Fainga’anuku may prove to be perfect timing. Comparisons with past players can be invidious, but it’s not straining credibility to suggest that with his power, there are touches of Ma’a Nonu about Fainga’anuku.
It’s a small club
The list of all-time great All Blacks who were never in a Grand Slam team is huge, ranging from George Nepia to Colin Meads to Bryan Williams.
Some All Blacks missed out on Grand Slam glory because of lost tests, or drawn games, as happened in 1963-64, when Scotland drew 0-0, and 1972-73, when Ireland drew 10-10. Others were denied a chance at a Slam for less expected reasons.
The most bizarre, surely, stopped the 1924-25 unbeaten All Blacks, known as the Invincibles, from playing Scotland. It was the result of boardroom behaviour in Edinburgh that reads like every cliched joke about Scots being tight with their money.
In 1951 book Fifty Years Of The All Blacks, compiled by British rugby historians Wilfred Wooller and David Owen, it’s revealed the problem dated back to the first All Blacks northern tour in 1904-05.
They say that: “It became known that when the fixtures were arranged many months before, the Scottish Rugby Union had refused to give the required guarantee of £200 (as the other countries had done) and instead offered the whole gate, less the expenses incurred. The receipts, it transpired, amounted to more than £1000, which, of course, pleased the tourists immensely.”
But not the Scottish union, who boycotted the next All Black tour.
In 1967, it was the cows
The 1967 All Blacks, who toured Britain under the guidance of great coach Fred Allen, were undefeated, but missed out on the Slam because the test with Ireland had to be cancelled while the tourists were already in Britain.
An outbreak of foot and mouth disease was diagnosed at a farm in England on the day of the All Blacks’ first match.
The Irish Government quickly imposed restrictions on visitors who had been in England and the Dublin test was gone.
All Blacks coaching great Fred Allen giving advice to Brian Lochore, Kel Tremain and Colin Meads.
Phil Gifford is a Contributing Sports Writer for NZME. He is one of the most-respected voices in New Zealand sports journalism.
