(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
On the 27th November 2004, Graham Henry would take his first year All Blacks team to the Stade de France in Paris, and would begin a remarkable period of dominance with a 45-6 win over Les Bleus.
Not just any Les Bleus, but the Six Nation’s Grand Slamming Tri Colours.
It would be the birth of a fearsome All Blacks team, that would carry all before them right through to the World Cup in France, losing just four matches from the end of 2004 through to the end of 2007.
In 2005, after the Crusaders had just won the final season of the Super 12 (before it was expanded to the Super 14) and two men would emerge as pillars in which the All Black team would be built around, and if anything would become almost too invaluable to the New Zealand rugby setup.
Richard Hugh McCaw and Daniel William Carter.
The All Blacks would open their 2005 international campaign by inflicting the heaviest test defeat on Fiji 91-0.
It would appear to be an almost unsuitable warm-up for Clive Woodward’s comprehensively prepared British and Irish Lions squad, arriving with enough support team and management to run a national union.
It would count for little.
The All Blacks would whitewash the fabled touring side 3-0 with an aggregate score line of 107-40, the worst series defeat ever suffered in over a century of the celebrated team’s history.
They would then go on to win the Tri Nations. From this year to 2008, New Zealand would win all of the Southern Hemispheres premier titles, winning 15 matches and losing just five.
They would also win the Bledisloe Cup for the third straight year; and embark on the second longest Tran-Tasman reign in the Cup’s 78 year history. Over this time the All Blacks would win 12 matches against the Wallabies and lose only three.
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