The All Blacks represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport. The All Blacks are the holders of the Rugby World Cup and are the 2013 International Rugby Board (IRB) Team of the Year as well as having the 2013 player of the year Kieran Read and coach of the year Steve Hansen. In 2012 the All Blacks won Team, Player and Coach of the year and in 2011 the team won Team and Coach of the year after winning the Rugby World Cup. They have won over 76% of their test matches (regarded as one of the best if not the best winning ratio in professional sport), and are the leading test match points scorers of all time. They are the only international side with a winning record against every country they have played and since their international debut in 1903 only five nations have defeated New Zealand in test matches. Since the introduction of the IRB's world rankings in October 2003, New Zealand has held number one ranking longer than all other teams combined.
New Zealand compete with Argentina, Australia and South Africa in The Rugby Championship—known as the Tri Nations before Argentina's entry in 2012. The All Blacks have won the trophy eleven times in the competition's sixteen-year history. They also hold the Bledisloe Cup, which is contested annually with Australia, and the Freedom Cup, contested annually with South Africa. New Zealand have achieved a Grand Slam(defeating England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in one tour) four times—1978, 2005, 2008 and 2010.
They have also been named the IRB Team of the Year six times since 2005. Three members have won the IRB Player of the Year award—current captain Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, and Kieran Read. Fifteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame; four of these are also inductees of the IRB Hall of Fame.
The team's first match was in 1884 against Cumberland County, New South Wales, and their first international match in 1903 against Australia in Sydney. The following year they hosted their first ever home test, a match against a British Isles side in Wellington. This was followed by a tour of Europe and North America in 1905 where the team suffered their first Test defeat—to Wales in Cardiff.
New Zealand's early uniforms consisted of a black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers. By the 1905 tour, they were wearing all black, except for the silver fern, and their name All Blacks dates from this time. The team perform a haka—a Māori challenge or posture dance—before each match. The haka performed has traditionally been Te Rauparaha's Ka Mate, although since 2005 Kapa o Pango—a modified version of the 1924 All Blacks haka, Kia Whaka-ngawari—has occasionally been performed.
