Two decades on, Ben Francis speaks with players from the greatest of the modern Grand Slam tours.
The All Blacks are launching into their first Grand Slam tour since 2010, facing Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales across the Northern Hemisphere this November.
Completing a Grand Slam is no easy feat, something the All Blacks have only achieved four times. They also unofficially did so in 1995, when they defeated all four nations during the World Cup in South Africa.
While each tour has carried its own significance, the 2005 campaign stands out. It marked the first Grand Slam attempt by any side in rugby’s professional era and followed a dominant 3-0 series win over the British and Irish Lions. The last successful Grand Slam before 2005 was by Australia in 1984.
Southern Hemisphere teams have a modest record in Grand Slam attempts, winning just nine of 28. The All Blacks’ 2010 triumph remains the most recent success, with South Africa (2010) and Australia (2013, 2016, 2024) all falling short.
Prior to the tour
The All Blacks’ first Grand Slam attempt in 27 years was officially confirmed in April 2005, when the test against Six Nations champions Wales was locked in.
Fixtures against Ireland, England and Scotland had been announced earlier, but the clash with Wales proved the most difficult to arrange due to scheduling conflicts with the NPC and Welsh club competitions.
Determined to commemorate the centenary of their first meeting – when Wales defeated The Originals (the first team to be called the All Blacks) 3-0 – a deal was eventually struck.
It would be the first Grand Slam tour by the All Blacks since Graham Mourie’s side beat all four home nations in 1978.
Before the 2005 test season began, an All Blacks trial match was held, with the Possibles edging the Probables 37-32.
The All Blacks would go on to sweep the Lions and win the Tri Nations, losing one test and retaining the Bledisloe Cup prior to the Northern Tour.
Coach Sir Graham Henry named a 35-man touring squad, which included six potential debutants: Jason Eaton, Chris Masoe, Angus Macdonald, Neemia Tialata and Isaia Toeava – who was selected, despite never having played Super Rugby. The uncapped John Afoa was also selected, but had already been part of the All Blacks’ Tri Nations squad earlier that year.
Masoe recalled being out fishing when he learned of his selection.
“My mate kept telling me, ‘take your phone, I’ve got a feeling you might get picked’ and I was like, ‘you’re dreaming’,” he said.
“He took his phone, and somehow the rugby union got hold of him, that’s how I found out. When I came back, all the media were waiting at Yarrow Stadium for me. It was quite good.”
Second five-eighths Aaron Mauger said the team spent a lot of time reflecting on the past before and during the tour.
“We did quite a bit of work on it – just the opportunity for us to really add to the All Black[s] legacy,” Mauger said. “We tapped back into a bit of that history and used it as motivation and inspiration to set up our tour.
“We also did a lot of work acknowledging The Originals that year, which was special. They even made us these All Black[s] Original bowler hats before we went on tour, and I still have mine at home, amongst my memorabilia.”
Afoa said learning about the history of the Originals helped put things into perspective.
“We had all this stuff around the team room and we had Bert [Gilbert Enoka] running the culture side, so we really leaned into that,” he said.
“We thought we were doing a tough four-week tour, flying first class to the UK. And then you think about that team in 1905, on a boat for two months, playing about 30 games in five weeks.”
Winger Doug Howlett said the announcement of the tour felt even more special, given the team had swept the British and Irish Lions earlier that year.
“The opportunity to be part of a Grand Slam tour was something we all aspired to,” Howlett said.
“The fact we beat the Lions earlier in the year made it a massive opportunity to go and play the home unions on their own turf.”
Enter the dragon
November 5: Wales. Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
The All Blacks began their campaign with an emphatic 41-3 win over Wales, who earlier that year had completed their own Grand Slam by going unbeaten in the Six Nations for the first time in 27 years.
It was a close contest at halftime, but the All Blacks quickly pulled away with winger Rico Gear completing his hat-trick in the 48th minute, while Dan Carter scored 26 points, including two tries in the final 20 minutes.
Henry used the match to give Tialata and Masoe starting debuts, while MacDonald came off the bench for his.
Masoe started at openside flanker with Richie McCaw on the bench, and he admits there were lots of nerves wearing the famous No 7 jersey.
Adding to the occasion was the closed roof at Millennium Stadium with over 70,000 fans in attendance.
“It was a great moment for me and my family,” Masoe said. “It was a pretty good start to the career I had in the black jersey.
“Trying to cover Richie McCaw, a legend of the game, and to wear his jersey, it was a lot of pressure. But there was no better feeling than running out and hearing the fans singing.
“I felt comfortable having Jerry [Collins] at blindside and Rodney [So’oialo] at No 8, the guys I spent most time with on the field.
“After the game, I couldn’t feel my legs. We went to the aftermath function and I had no energy because wearing that jersey, I had big shoes to fill. I was running out of breath at the end of the night, but that’s what it’s all about.”
Gear was modest about his three tries, his lone hat-trick in an All Blacks jersey.
“It’s just a place where you get excited to play and that’s exactly what we did that particular day,” he said.
“We weren’t afraid to move the ball around and we were in tune with one another, which was probably reflected in some of the tries.
“I didn’t have to do a lot to score some of those tries, it was just a lot of accuracy and speed from the boys coming into the backline, and I just had to finish off a couple of times there.”
Howlett, who didn’t play in the match, said after watching Gear score three tries, he knew he had to respond when given his chance.
“We didn’t know which games we were going to play,” he said. “But that put me on edge and I knew against Ireland, I had to be at my best.”
Green fields
November 12: Ireland, Lansdowne Road, Dublin
The All Blacks fielded a brand-new starting side to the one that beat Wales and they produced another clinical performance in a 45-7 win, with the hosts’ lone try coming in injury time.
There were two more debutants, with Lauaki and Afoa both starting, but the Irish were fuming with captain Tana Umaga rested for the encounter.
Henry hinted prior to the tour this would happen, but Umaga was still public enemy No 1 after being involved in a dangerous tackle which dislocated Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll’s shoulder in the first Lions test back in June.
Afoa said the tension only added to the occasion, which was intensified when a fire broke out at Lansdowne Road the day before the match, meaning 7500 fans were unable to attend the fixture.
Having missed out on playing Wales, Afoa said he was starting to question whether he would ever get the chance to wear the black jersey, but recalls the moment Mike Cron told him he would start against Ireland.
Back then, teams only had one prop on the bench, which made it that little bit more difficult to get on the field.
“I remember when someone said that Richie [McCaw] made his debut against Ireland at the same venue, which was cool,” Afoa said.
“If you fast-forward to 2011, I go to Ulster, a guy, Rory Best, who I played with there and ended up being one of the Irish greats, he made his debut in the same game.
“I remember that relief to be named in the team finally, but excited at the same time.”
Howlett, who still holds the record for the most tries by an All Black with 49, scored twice in that match, with Sitiveni Sivivatu also claiming a brace.
He had a similar story to Afoa, saying the match had a special relevance, as he would later go on to forge a successful career at Munster.
“I didn’t know it at the time, but I spent a lot of my career in Ireland after the All Blacks,” Howlett said.
“There wasn’t a day that went by when my teammate Marcus Horan, who scored their only try, didn’t remind me of scoring against us. He was a prop who scored a winger’s try in the corner.”
Mauger recalls how dominant the All Blacks were in that fixture.
“After putting 40 on Wales the week prior, going into that game against Ireland at Lansdowne Road was a pretty special performance,” he said.
“We named a different team and that’s just a reflection of the depth that we had at the time under Ted [Henry], [Sir] Steve Hansen and Smithy [Sir Wayne Smith]. They wanted to build enough depth going through to that next World Cup.
“We created a bit of momentum on the back of those first two and there was lots of talk going into that next test against England.”
Royal appointment
November 14: Meeting the Queen at Buckingham Palace
New Zealand’s rugby royalty met English royalty when the All Blacks squad visited Buckingham Palace, hosted by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William, among other royals.
For some, it was their second visit to the home of the monarch; for others, it was their first and only time.
Also present was Gisborne’s Gary Lewis, who had become part of the royal family after marrying Lady Davina Windsor the year prior. The couple later separated in 2019.
Gear, also from Gisborne, said the Queen reminded him of his grandmother.
Afoa admitted he was nervous about meeting royalty.
“Some of the old boys had done it, and I remember sitting in there – they’re like, ‘oh, you’ve got to greet her like this, you’ve got to say hello, mum or ma’am’,” Afoa said.
“Everyone’s practising and Tana cuts into the room with the Queen and boom, she turns right and I’m the first one. I’m like, ‘oh my God, don’t stuff it up, John’.”
Mauger described the experience as surreal.
“That’s just one of those amazing perks that comes with the privilege of being an All Black and representing the country,” he said.
“A lot of the All Blacks at the time were small-town boys. I come from Lyttelton and I know a lot of the boys were from smaller towns or rural areas out in the country.
“It’s an amazing feeling when you’re walking through the gates of Buckingham Palace, about to meet the royal family. It adds to the whole experience.”
The English rose
November 19: England, Twickenham
This was the test everyone had circled in their calendars, deemed the biggest match of the tour, a tussle against the World Cup champions in their own backyard.
The All Blacks were without McCaw due to a head knock and despite being down to 13 players at one stage, New Zealand scraped home with a 23-19 win.
After trailing early, the All Blacks established a 10-point lead in the second half but were then forced to defend for their lives as Tony Woodcock then Tialata were sin-binned, before Masoe was given a yellow card in the final minutes for slowing play down at the ruck.
England had one last chance to win the game, with a scrum inside the All Blacks’ 22. They attempted to spread the ball wide from the set piece, but New Zealand’s defence tackled Ben Cohen into touch and the game was over.
Howlett recalls the atmosphere being surreal, especially in the final moments.
“It’s always a great honour to run out at Twickenham,” he said.
“We had a couple of players sent off towards the end there and it felt like it, 13 players against 60,000 fans. It felt like they were closing in on us with that chant of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.
“We just had to look at each other and keep the line as a team – and we did. We managed to get away with a win, but it was a super-memorable game playing at Twickenham.”
Mauger said there was a big sense of relief coming away with the win, considering the hype and anticipation around the fixture.
“They had us under pressure early and it was a real arm wrestle,” he said.
“There was a lot of talk around the set piece at the time and I remember the forwards being excited for the challenge. Their scrum was dominant at the time with Andrew Sheridan and the likes up front, but our boys weren’t too overt with it around the challenge.
“They did a great job to set the platform and at least got parity with England up front and gave us enough opportunities to exploit some holes. Fortunately, we were good enough to get through a couple of times and score and come away with the victory.”
Masoe recalls finding out he would be starting with McCaw injured.
“I got a knock on the door from Ted and he said, ‘Mate, you’re starting’,” Masoe said. “I just paused for a minute. I was like, oh my God. What could go wrong here?
“That was probably the hardest game and the boys gained a lot of confidence from that game to take into the last one against Scotland.”
Scotland, the grave
November 26: Scotland, Murrayfield, Edinburgh
The Grand Slam was completed for the All Blacks with a comfortable 29-10 win over Scotland, with Toeava becoming the latest new player to make his test debut.
The hosts opened the scoring with a penalty goal, but that was as good as it got as tries from Gear, Nick Evans and Lauaki gave the All Blacks a 22-3 halftime lead. A second Gear try in the second half sealed the win.
The match will be remembered as captain Umaga’s final test. While no official announcement was made until January 2006, the Herald‘s Wynne Gray broke the story prior to the match.
Umaga told senior players and coaching staff in the build-up and informed everyone else afterwards. He was hoisted on to his teammates’ shoulders during the lap of honour and given a guard of honour as he left the field.
Afoa said it was a special moment.
“Afterwards, Tana told the team that was it, he was retiring,” Afoa said. “To be in the changing rooms and to have a chance to play with him, it was a real highlight for me.”
Gear said Murrayfield was a tough place to play, but he enjoyed the experience of playing in the Scottish capital.
“I got a couple of tries, which is always nice, but again, I didn’t have to do a hell of a lot,” he said.
“I think I got one there where Piri Weepu put a nice little kick through. But it’s just being able to read and react to one another, which we did well during the whole series.
“It’s a tough place to play. I remember it being quite difficult playing against the Scots there.
“We had a lot of forwards with quite a high skill level, which meant we could move the ball faster and be quite dynamic, and that caught them out too.”
Reflections on the tour
For everyone involved, the tour had different memories for one reason or another.
In Gear’s case, it capped off a memorable 2005 season, which he describes as the best year of his rugby career.
Along with finishing as Super Rugby’s top try-scorer that season with 15, he scored seven of his 13 test tries in 2005, including five on the tour.
He credits his move back to the Crusaders for his form and the mentorship of Robbie Deans.
“I had an opportunity to go back there and just had a different approach to my rugby, and I certainly grew in belief,” Gear said.
“Robbie is one of the best coaches in the world, so I was pretty grateful to be under him.
“Looking at it, 2005 was probably my best year.”
Howlett said being involved on the tour was a career highlight.
“Having the opportunity to play in a Grand Slam, you realise it at the time and you want to make the most of it,” he said.
“I’m glad I’m having this conversation because I can go back to my teammates and look through the team list that was there.
“I think that group of players, especially in tight games like the English match, it binds you tight and there’s a shared experience there that sort of lives with us and is kept alive, as another tour comes on this year.”
Masoe said the tour will always have a special place in his heart, as it’s where his international career began.
“It was my first and second test matches, and to go on tour for the first time and to win the Grand Slam is definitely up there,” he said.
“It’s up there with, you know, representing New Zealand at the 2007 World Cup too. We came up short there, but that’s what rugby is all about – that’s what sport is. You win some and you lose some.
“The Grand Slam is up there in my career, man. I’ll tell my kids and my boys in the future.”
Mauger said it was a special period in his career.
“I think that really set up those few years in the All Black[s] environment,” he said. ”There was a bit of a shift happening at the time and it was certainly very special to be a part of.
“With the Crusaders performing well, I managed to find a bit of form myself, had some good challenges from Ted and the All Black[s] coaching staff around improving some areas of my game, and that helped me grow. That little bit of stimulus, that little bit of challenge.
“It was an amazing feeling. Everybody had some good involvement and we’d achieved that goal of coming back ... with the Grand Slam.”
Afoa went on to play in the 2008 and 2010 Grand Slam triumphs, but said 2005 will always be special.
“I feel very fortunate to have played alongside some of those players,” he said. “Lots of those players were on their way out and I felt thankful to be playing in the team while they were still around.”
Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.