2005 New Zealand rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland

2005 New Zealand tour of Britain and Ireland
	Touring team
	New Zealand
	Home teams
	Wales
	Ireland
	England
	Scotland
	Statistics
Matches played	4
Points for	138 (34.5 per game)
Points against	39 (9.8 per game)
Tries scored	16
Most points	Daniel Carter (39)
Most tries	Rico Gear (5)

The 2005 New Zealand Rugby Union tour of Britain and Ireland was a Grand Slam Rugby Union tour played by the New Zealand National Rugby Union team, also known as the All Blacks, in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland against their respective national teams. Played through November, it consisted of 4 matches against Wales, Ireland, England and Scotland.

It was the first Grand Slam Tour by the All Blacks since the 18 match Grand Slam tour of 1978.

New Zealand won all of their matches with a touring squad of 35 players selected by Head Coach Graham Henry.

The matches were played during November of 2005. The first match was against Wales on the 5th, the second was against Ireland on the 12th, the third was against England on the 19th, and the last match was against Scotland on the 26th to complete the first successful Grand Slam tour of the professional era. The last successful Grand Slam was by Australia in 1984 in between 14 other matches.^[1]

Touring squad

A total of 35 players were selected for the touring squad: five props, three hookers, four locks, seven loose forwards, three halfbacks, seven midfielders and six back three-quarters, including five new caps.^[2] Graham Henry was Head Coach with Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen as his Assistant Coaches. Tana Umaga was named captain for the tour.

2005 New Zealand Grand Slam touring squad

Props

Hookers

Locks

Loose forwards

Halfbacks

Midfielders

Back Three-Quarters

Coaches

Graham Henry (Head)
Wayne Smith (Asst.)
Steve Hansen (Asst.)

– Most players are capable of playing
multiple positions.

– Squad only include players who
have been named in a starting
15 or reserves bench.

– (c) = Captain
– ¹ = New cap

Tests

A total of four matches were played during the 2005 Grand Slam tour against the four home unions of Wales, Ireland, England and Scotland. The tour was played over four weeks, with one game each week.

Date	Opponent	Score	Venue	Attendance
5 Nov	Wales	41–3	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	74,402
12 Nov	Ireland	45–7	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	42,000
19 Nov	England	23–19	Twickenham, London	62,000
26 Nov	Scotland	29–10	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	47,678
New Zealand scores in bold

Wales

Wales were looking to beat the All Blacks for the first time since 1953, when they won 13–8 at Cardiff Arms Park.^[3] They came into the match and tour as the most recent Six Nations champions and the last of the Home Nations to agree to play the All Blacks on the 2005 tour. New Zealand came in after a successful British & Irish Lions tour and another Tri Nations win.^{[citation needed]}

The All Black coaching staff named three debutantes for the first test in Cardiff: Neemia Tialata and Chris Masoe were chosen ahead of regular starters Tony Woodcock and Richie McCaw, while Angus MacDonald came on for James Ryan for his first international.

5 November 2005

Wales	3–41	New Zealand
Pen: S. Jones	Report	Try: Gear (3) Carter (2) Con: Carter (5) Pen: Carter (2)

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Attendance: 74,402
Referee: Chris White (England)

Match summary

Line-ups
New Zealand	Pos.	Wales
Mils Muliaina	15	Gareth Thomas (c)
Rico Gear	14	Kevin Morgan
Conrad Smith	13	Mark Taylor
Tana Umaga (c)	12	Ceri Sweeney
Joe Rokocoko	11	Shane Williams
Dan Carter	10	Stephen Jones
Byron Kelleher	9	Mike Phillips
Rodney So'oialo	8	Michael Owen
Chris Masoe	7	Colin Charvis
Jerry Collins	6	Jonathan Thomas
James Ryan	5	Robert Sidoli
Chris Jack	4	Brent Cockbain
Carl Hayman	3	Adam Jones
Anton Oliver	2	Mefin Davies
Neemia Tialata	1	Duncan Jones

Replacements
Andrew Hore	16	Rhys Thomas
Tony Woodcock	17	Chris Horsman
Angus MacDonald	18	Luke Charteris
Richie McCaw	19	Robin Sowden-Taylor
Jimmy Cowan	20	Gareth Cooper
Ma'a Nonu	21	Nicky Robinson
Leon MacDonald	22	Lee Byrne

The All Blacks started off their tour with a 41–3 victory over Wales in Cardiff on 5 November, the 100th anniversary of rugby between the two teams. Dan Carter scored 26 points for New Zealand, including two of the five tries by the visitors. Rico Gear scored the other three tries for his team. Wales took another loss to the All Blacks, but broke their losing streak against them the next year, winning 13–8.^{[citation needed]}

First half

The All Blacks took control of the ball and position on the field, to deter the chance of the Welsh team's offensive attack.^{[citation needed]}

New Zealand struck first with an early penalty before Byron Kelleher lost the first chance for a try in the 16th minute of play. The halfback took a quick tap at halfway, running 45 meters through a gap before getting tackled downfield, failing to offload to the open Tana Umaga at his shoulder. Carter converted to be two from two and put the All Blacks out in front 6–0.^{[citation needed]}

Wales also missed a chance for a try that had to be substituted for penalty because of poor play. Gareth Thomas made it happen with a break through a missed tackle to set up a ruck inside the All Blacks' 22-meter line. A penalty was called for poor ball handling. First-five Stephen Jones converted it into points and decreased the deficit to a penalty's-worth, 3 points.^{[citation needed]}

Rico Gear scored the only try of the first half. With the scores at 6–3 in favor of the visitors, Chris Jack took the ball from the line-out in Welsh territory and provided the ball to the backs. Umaga straightened and feed back to Carter who spread it to Mils Muliaina. He then passed to Gear who scored in the right hand corner. Carter converted the sideline conversion and put the All Blacks out to 13.^{[citation needed]}

The Rico Gear try in the corner nine minutes from the half-time break gave the All Blacks the upper hand going into the second half.^{[citation needed]}

Second half

The All Blacks showed scored two converted tries in the first ten minutes, both from Gear. Gear scored his second, set up by Carter, and third in the same corner as his first; his second came from a pass from Carter who put him through the gap and it was an easy run to the try line, while his third was as simple as his first two with some easy passing out wide where Gear got outside his man and scored another five-pointer. Carter converted and New Zealand secured the win with still half an hour to play with a 27–3 lead.^{[citation needed]}

Both sides shifted down a few gears dominating much of the final half-hour.New Zealand scored their fourth try of the game, coming from a play by Carter who broke a tackle and ran down the line to score his 17th and, after the conversion, 19th points of the match. In the final minute of play Conrad Smith put a kick through for Umaga; Umaga ran to catch the ball, but went down with his challenger and popped the ball up to a supporting Carter who went in for his second try and then his fifth conversion of the night.^{[citation needed]}

Carter finished with 26 of the team's 41 points and the All Blacks started off their tour on the highest possible note.

Scoring summary

1st half
- NZ – 10' Dan Carter penalty goal. Score: New Zealand 3–0
- NZ – 16' Dan Carter penalty goal. Score: New Zealand 6–0
- WAL – 19' Stephen Jones penalty goal. Score: New Zealand 6–3
- NZ – 28' Rico Gear try, conversion successful (Dan Carter). Score: New Zealand 13–3
2nd half
- NZ – 43' Rico Gear try, conversion successful (Dan Carter). Score: New Zealand 20–3
- NZ – 48' Rico Gear try, conversion successful (Dan Carter). Score: New Zealand 27–3
- NZ – 66' Dan Carter try, conversion successful (Dan Carter). Score: New Zealand 34 – 3
- NZ – 78' Dan Carter try, conversion successful (Dan Carter). Score: New Zealand 41–3
Final: New Zealand 41–3 Wales

Player movement

Both teams utilised all of their replacement players, bringing them on at some point during the match. Richie McCaw and Tony Woodcock were the two usual starters on the bench making room for run-on debutantes Neemia Tialata and Chris Masoe, while Angus MacDonald made his debut off the bench.

New Zealand

Player movement
No.	Exiting player	Movement	No.	Replacement player
1	Neemia Tialata	51'	17	Tony Woodcock
2	Anton Oliver	65'	16	Andrew Hore
5	James Ryan	65'	18	Angus MacDonald
7	Chris Masoe	68'	19	Richie McCaw
9	Byron Kelleher		20	Jimmy Cowan
14	Rico Gear		21	Ma'a Nonu
15	Mils Muliaina	72'	22	Leon MacDonald

Key
Substitution
Blood bin
Yellow card
Red card

Wales

Player movement
No.	Exiting player	Movement	No.	Replacement player
3	Adam Jones	46'	17	Chris Horsman
9	Mike Phillips	49'	20	Gareth Cooper
5	Gareth Thomas	56'	22	Lee Byrne
2	Mefin Davies	61'	19	Rhys Thomas
4	Brent Cockbain	61'	18	Luke Charteris
7	Colin Charvis	68'	19	Robin Sowden-Taylor
12	Ceri Sweeney	68'	21	Nicky Robinson

Key
Substitution
Blood bin
Yellow card
Red card

Ireland

Ireland were looking for a historic first win over the All Blacks. Throughout the entirety of their test rugby back catalogue, Ireland had failed to register a single victory. The closest they had come was a 10–10 draw in 1973 at Lansdowne Road.

The All Black coaches named a completely different squad than their team that played against Wales with loose forward Sione Lauaki and prop John Afoa making their debuts. Afoa was selected in the initial squad for the Tri Nations earlier in the year but had to wait until the 2005 end-of-year tour be he got on the field. Richie McCaw was named captain while regular captain Tana Umaga was rested. They also named five forward replacements and only two back replacements.

12 November 2005

Ireland	7–45	New Zealand
Try: Horan Con: Humphreys	Report	Try: Howlett (2) Sivivatu (2) Weepu Con: Evans (4) Pen: Evans (4)

Lansdowne Road, Dublin
Attendance: 42,000
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)