The All Black Invincibles: 100 Years On

Saturday, 13 July 2024, 4:16 pm
Article: RNZ

Jamie Wall, Digital Sports Journalist

12 July 2024

Scott Robertson's All Blacks face a daunting challenge this year, with 13 more tests on their slate between now and mid-November. Winning all of them would be some sort of achievement - only one side has actually managed to achieve that feat in the professional era.

But 100 years ago, a team departed New Zealand with a gargantuan 32-match schedule in front of them.

The 1924-25 All Blacks came home nine months later having won every single time on their tour of the UK, Ireland, France and Canada, earning the now famous title of The Invincibles. Simply getting to their destination and back involved a stop at Pitcairn Island, the Panama Canal and a train journey across North America.

A special exhibit, made by the NZ Rugby Museum, is on display at the All Blacks Experience in Sky City, in Auckland, to commemorate the Invincibles' place in All Black history.

It will also be available to view at Eden Park before kick-off of the All Blacks versus England test on Saturday night at Section 326.

As well as telling the story of the tour, it has the original trophy presented to the team, as well as George Nepia's original jersey. Seventy-nine test All Black lock Ian Jones described being in the presence of such a treasured piece of All Black heritage as "emotional".

"Thirty-two games on tour, the man [Nepia] played every one of those 32 games. Regarded by many as one of our greatest ever All Blacks…that jersey is the same colour as the jersey I wore, the same colour as the jersey as the men playing today. So to be standing beside your brother, an All Black team-mate, part of the same club, it's actually emotional. It's that connection piece, and it's strong," Jones said.

"These men here helped create the legacy of who the All Blacks are. When we look in modern terms and we think that the All Blacks have a great win record, these men remind us that win record started 100 plus years ago."

The irony of the Invincibles is that they were largely written off by the New Zealand media of the time, due to a poor tour of New South Wales earlier in the year. The state of Australian rugby at the time was highly depleted, due to the number of players who had been lost in World War 1.

The All Blacks contained 11 veterans of the conflict, including brothers Maurice and Cyril Brownlie, Jim Parker and captain Jock Richardson. All four fought in the Palestine campaign with the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Division, in what's now Israel.

One of the more tragic war stories was that of Andrew White of Southland, nicknamed 'Son' as he was the only boy in a family of six girls.

White had enthusiastically joined the army only to watch his comrades get slaughtered at Gallipoli, suffering intense post-traumatic stress disorder for the rest of his service. It led to alcoholism and an attempt at desertion after being transferred to the Western Front.

White was subsequently punished by being tied to a post outside for a week, returning to New Zealand an embittered and emotional wreck, before finding a purpose on the rugby field. It's a miracle he recovered enough mentally to even live a relatively normal life, let alone be picked for the Invincibles only six years later.

Of course, the tour's most famous player was Nepia, the fullback from the East Coast who became one of the game's first superstars. In an age when fullback was primarily a defensive position, his tackling and kicking was considered revolutionary.

It's fitting that Saturday's test match will be started by referee Nic Berry blasting the same whistle that was used to officiate at the Invincibles' 17-11 victory over England at Twickenham.

That match is infamous for the sending off of Cyril Brownlie, referee Albert Freethy making an extremely controversial call only eight minutes into the match. Maurice Brownlie took it upon himself to avenge his brother's honour, playing a dominant game and scoring a memorable try in the win.

While the Invincibles also defeated Ireland, Wales and France on the tour (Scotland refused to play) it's fair to say the Twickenham test set the tone for All Black-Northern Hemisphere relations to this day.

All Blacks v England

Kick-off: 7.05pm, Saturday 13 July

Eden Park, Auckland

Live blog coverage on RNZ Sport

All Blacks: 1, Ethan de Groot 2. Codie Taylor 3. Tyrel Lomax 4. Scott Barrett (captain) 5, Patrick Tuipulotu, 6. Samipeni Finau 7. Dalton Papali'i 8. Ardie Savea (vice-captain) 9. Finlay Christie 10. Damian McKenzie 11. Mark Tele'a 12. Jordie Barrett 13. Rieko Ioane 14. Sevu Reece 15. Stephen Perofeta

Bench: 16. Asafo Aumua 17. Ofa Tu'ungafasi 18. Fletcher Newell 19. Tupou Vaa'i 20. Luke Jacobson 21. Cortez Ratima 22. Anton Lienert-Brown 23. Beauden Barrett

England: 15. Freddie Steward 14. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso 13. Henry Slade (vice-captain) 12. Ollie Lawrence 11. Tommy Freeman 10. Marcus Smith 9. Alex Mitchell 8. Ben Earl (vice-captain) 7. Sam Underhill 6. Chandler Cunningham-South 5. George Martin 4. Maro Itoje (vice-captain) 3. Will Stuart 2. Jamie George (captain) 1. Fin Baxter

Bench: 16. Theo Dan 17. Bevan Rodd 18. Dan Cole 19. Alex Coles 20. Tom Curry 21. Ben Spencer 22. Fin Smith 23. Ollie Sleightholme

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