Are the Current All Blacks New Zealand’s Greatest-Ever Team?

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: November 30, 2013

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The All Blacks are undoubtedly the greatest team in the world at the moment. With their last-gasp win over Ireland last weekend, they became the first team of the professional era to win every Test in a year. 

In doing this, they carried on from their exploits of 2012 where they won all but one game. Over these two years, they have beaten all of the major Test-playing nations, including four wins over South Africa, four over France and six over Australia.

It begs the question as to whether this is the greatest All Blacks team ever. While they certainly have an impressive record, there have been many strong teams come out of New Zealand over the years and there are many factors to consider.

In reality, it is almost impossible to compare between eras. New laws, different game-styles and professionalism have all contributed to making the game different to the one played 20, 30 or 40 years ago.

The best way to do it is to look at how dominant a team was in their era and how well they adapted to different circumstances.

With that, let us think of those who spring to mind as the great All Blacks teams.

Buck Shelford's team of the late 1980s was unstoppable and has to rate right up there, as does the team of 1966-1969, both of whom went unbeaten during these periods.

The "Invincibles" of 1924 completed an unbeaten tour of Europe, while Graham Henry's teams of 2005-2006 and 2010-2011 were both clearly the best in the world, too.

Lastly, the team from 1996-1997 achieved things that no other All Blacks team has achieved and were clearly the best team in the world during those years.

But which of these was the very best?

The Invincibles won all 32 games of their tour of Europe and Canada of 1924 and 1925, including Test wins over England, Wales, Ireland and France. This is impressive to say the least, as this team was forced on multiple occasions to...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Rugby Union

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