History: England v New Zealand
Any fixture that involves the world-famous All Blacks ensures to be a spectacle not to be missed, therefore in November when New Zealand visit Twickenham to play Eddie Jones' England in this year's Autumn Nations Series, it is bound to be no exception.
Rugby’s Origins in New Zealand
In 1892, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union was formed, and in 1888 the very first New Zealand representative rugby team, known as "The Natives", set off on a tour of the Britain Isles, playing against county English teams. The team performed a traditional intimidating Maori war dance ahead of each kick-off, the Haka, which has now become a rich tradition rooted in the identity of the nation's rugby team, and a spectacle to fans attending New Zealand fixtures to this day.
In 1905, the All Blacks encountered England for the first-ever test match between the two nations, when a New Zealand team named "The Originals" toured the British Isles, defeating England 0-15 at Crystal Palace in London. Despite this momentous fixture, it would prove to be another 20 years before the two teams would meet again, when in 1925 with the All Blacks yet again beat England to an 11-17 victory at Twickenham.
England’s First Victory and World Cup Meetings
The next fixture, and first of England's current eight wins to date against the All Blacks took another 11 years to arrive, when in 1936 the two teams met again at Twickenham, with England prevailing in a 13-0 home victory. New Zealand's retaliation would be to go on to a run of six consecutive victories in the following meetings between the nations over the next 37 years, with England's next win, and first-ever win on Kiwi soil coming in 1973 at Eden Park.
The first meeting between the two nations on the World Cup stage came in a 1991 pool stage match, in which New Zealand defeated England 12-18 at Twickenham. The two teams would go on to meet yet again in the Semi-Final of the following 1995 World Cup, with the All Blacks taking victory in Cape Town 45-29.
Recent History
From 1995 onwards, the All Blacks would go from strength to strength, and despite a draw in 1997 and a couple of victories for England in 2002 and 2003, New Zealand would go on to win the next 13 of their 16 fixtures against England between 1997 and 2010, with an eventual England victory coming from a 2012 Autumn International fixture at Twickenham.
The last fixture involving the two nations at Twickenham came in a 2018 Autumn International fixture, which saw an incredibly closely fought contest, featuring an impressive comeback for the All Blacks in an eventual 15-16 victory.
The following year, in a match undoubtedly fresh in the minds of England fans, the two nations met in the Semi-Finals of the 2019 World Cup in Japan. England stormed to a 19-7 victory in an impressive performance, a triumph regarded by many as Eddie Jones' sides most impressive during his tenure to date.