History of rugby union matches between Ireland and New Zealand History of rugby union matches between Ireland and New Zealand The New Zealand All Blacks first played against Ireland in 1905, beating them 15–0 at Lansdowne Road, Dublin. The two teams have played a total of 31 Test matches, with the All Blacks winning 28 of them, and losing two. The draw was in 1973 where Ireland and New Zealand drew 10-10 with Ireland scoring 2 penalties and a try, to the All Blacks 2 tries and 1 conversion (A try was worth four points in 1973). During the 2012 Irish Tour of New Zealand, New Zealand won all three
Rugby union in Italy rugby union. In the 1960s the Italian Rugby Union had their rival sport, rugby league, hampered by threatening to ban rugby league players from playing rugby union for life. In the 1980s, a peculiar set of economic circumstances arose, which helped bolster the game further. In an effort to promote the game, sinking money into rugby became virtually tax-free, and large amounts of sponsorship money went into the game, from companies as large as Benetton which set up their own club sides. Benetton Treviso for example was able to use this money to produce a dramatic rise in standards. Players