The New Zealand national rugby union team have competed since 1884, and there are a number of individual records achieved since that time. The team is also known as the All Blacks, and have competed in Test rugby since their match against Australia in 1903. The record for the most Test appearances for the All Blacks is held by Sam Whitelock — who has played 153 Test matches for the team. Richie McCaw was the first All Black to play over 100 Test matches; a record he achieved during the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The record for most Test points by an All Black is held by Dan Carter, who scored 1598 points between 2003 and 2015. The record for the number of Test tries is held by Doug Howlett, who scored 49 tries in 62 matches between 2000 and 2007.

Most caps

# Player Pos Span Mat Start Sub Won Lost Draw Win %
1 Sam Whitelock Lock 2010–2023 153 127 26 125 22 6 84%
2 Richie McCaw Flanker 2001–2015 148 141 7 131 15 2 89%
3 Keven Mealamu Hooker 2002–2015 132 77 55 114 16 2 87%
4 Kieran Read Number 8 2008–2019 127 120 7 107 16 4 86%
5 Aaron Smith Scrum-half 2012–2023 125 114 11 100 19 6 82%
6 Beauden Barrett Fly-half 2012 123 83 40 101 18 4 84%
7 Tony Woodcock Prop 2002–2015 118 105 13 102 15 1 87%
8 Dan Carter Fly-half 2003–2015 112 106 6 99 12 1 89%
9 Brodie Retallick Lock 2012–2023 109 94 15 92 13 4 86%
10 Owen Franks Prop 2009–2019 108 98 10 91 13 4 86%

Current as of New Zealand vs South Africa, 28 October 2023. Statistics include officially capped matches only. Current All Blacks are indicated in bold type[1]

Most tries

# Player Position Career span Mat Start Sub Pts Tries Tries/
Match
1 Doug Howlett Wing 2000–2007 62 55 7 245 49 0.79
2 Julian Savea Wing 2012–2017 54 51 3 230 46 0.85
3 Christian Cullen Fullback 1996–2002 58 56 2 236 46 0.79
4 Joe Rokocoko Wing 2003–2010 68 66 2 230 46 0.68
5 Jeff Wilson Wing 1993–2001 60 60 0 234 44 0.73
6 Beauden Barrett Fly-half 2012–2023 123 83 40 734 43 0.35
7 Ben Smith Fullback 2009–2019 84 72 12 195 39 0.46
8 Jonah Lomu Wing 1994–2002 63 54 9 185 37 0.59
9 Rieko Ioane Centre 2016– 69 59 10 180 36 0.52
10 Tana Umaga Centre 1997–2005 74 73 1 180 36 0.49

Current as of New Zealand vs South Africa, 28 October 2023. Statistics include officially capped matches only. Current All Blacks are indicated in bold type[2]

Most points

# Player Career span Pts Caps Tries Conv Pens Drop Avg
1 Dan Carter 2003–2015 1,598 112 29 293 281 8 14.27
2 Andrew Mehrtens 1995–2004 967 70 7 169 188 10 13.81
3 Beauden Barrett 2012–2023 734 123 43 166 58 3 5.97
4 Grant Fox 1985–1993 645 46 1 118 128 7 14.02
5 Richie Mo'unga 2017–2023 466 55 11 144 41 0 8.47
6 Aaron Cruden 2010–2017 322 50 5 63 56 1 6.44
7 Jordie Barrett 2017– 292 57 24 47 26 0 5.12
8 Carlos Spencer 1997–2004 291 35 14 49 41 0 8.31
9 Doug Howlett 2000–2007 245 62 49 0 0 0 3.95
10 Christian Cullen 1996–2002 236 58 46 3 0 0 4.07

Current as of New Zealand vs South Africa, 28 October 2023. Statistics include officially capped matches only. Current All Blacks are indicated in bold type[3]

Most points in a match

# Player Position Pts Tries Conv Pens Drop Result Opposition Date
1. Simon Culhane Fly-half 45 1 20 0 0 145–17  Japan 4 June 1995
2. Tony Brown Fly-half 36 1 11 3 0 101–3  Italy 14 October 1999
3. Carlos Spencer Fly-half 33 2 10 1 0 93–8  Argentina 21 June 1997
Andrew Mehrtens Fly-half 33 1 5 6 0 63–15  Ireland 15 November 1997
Dan Carter Fly-half 33 2 4 5 0 48–18 British and Irish Lions 2 July 2005
Nick Evans Fly-half 33 1 14 0 0 108–13  Portugal 15 September 2007
7. Tony Brown Fly-half 32 1 12 1 0 102–0  Tonga 16 June 2000
8. Marc Ellis Centre 30 6 0 0 0 145–17  Japan 4 June 1995
Tony Brown Fly-half 30 3 3 3 0 50–6  Samoa 16 June 2001
Beauden Barrett Fly-half 30 4 5 0 0 40–12  Australia 25 August 2018

Current as of New Zealand vs South Africa, 28 October 2023. Statistics include officially capped matches only. Current All Blacks are indicated in bold type[4]

Most tries in a match

# Player Position Tries Result Opposition Date
1. Marc Ellis Centre 6 145–17  Japan 4 June 1995
2. Jeff Wilson Wing 5 71–5  Fiji 14 June 1997
Will Jordan Wing 5 102–0  Tonga 3 July 2021
4. Duncan McGregor Wing 4 15–0  England 2 December 1905
John Gallagher Fullback 4 74–13  Fiji 27 May 1987
Craig Green Wing 4 74–13  Fiji 27 May 1987
John Kirwan Wing 4 52–3  Wales 28 May 1988
Jonah Lomu Wing 4 45–29  England 18 June 1995
Christian Cullen Fullback 4 62–31  Scotland 15 June 1996
Jeff Wilson Fullback 4 71–13  Samoa 18 June 1999
Mils Muliaina Wing 4 68–6  Canada 17 October 2003
Sitiveni Sivivatu Wing 4 91–0  Fiji 10 June 2005
Zac Guildford Wing 4 79–15  Canada 2 October 2011
Beauden Barrett Fly-half 4 40–12  Australia 25 August 2018
Jordie Barrett Wing 4 66–3  Italy 24 November 2018
George Bridge Wing 4 92–7  Tonga 7 September 2019
Dane Coles Hooker 4 57–23  Fiji 10 July 2021

Current as of New Zealand vs South Africa, 28 October 2023. Statistics include officially capped matches only. Current All Blacks are indicated in bold type[5]

Most matches as captain

# Player Span Caps Total caps Win %
1. Richie McCaw 2004–2015 110 148 89.09%
2 Kieran Read 2012–2019 52 127 84.31%
3. Sean Fitzpatrick 1992–1997 51 92 77.45%
4. Wilson Whineray 1958–1965 30 32 78.33%
5. Sam Cane 2015–2023 27 95 75%
6. Reuben Thorne 2002–2007 23 50 86.95%
7. Taine Randell 1998–2002 22 51 56.81%
8. Tana Umaga 2004–2005 21 74 85.71%
9. Graham Mourie 1977–1982 19 21 78.94%
10. Brian Lochore 1966–1970 18 25 83.33%

Current as of New Zealand vs South Africa, 28 October 2023. Statistics include officially capped matches only. Current All Blacks are indicated in bold type[6]

Youngest players

# Player Age DOB Debut Opposition
1. Jonah Lomu 19 years 45 days 12 May 1975 26 June 1994  France
2. Edgar Wrigley 19 years 79 days 15 June 1886 2 September 1905  Australia
3. Pat Walsh 19 years 106 days 6 May 1936 20 August 1955  Australia
4. John Kirwan 19 years 183 days 16 December 1964 16 June 1984  France
5. George Nēpia 19 years 190 days 25 April 1905 1 November 1924  Ireland
6. Billy Mitchell 19 years 211 days 28 November 1890 27 June 1910  Australia
7. Bill Francis 19 years 221 days 4 February 1894 13 September 1913  Australia
8. Rieko Ioane 19 years 239 days 18 March 1997 12 November 2016  Italy
9. James Baird 19 years 270 days 17 December 1893 13 September 1913  Australia
10. Neil Wolfe 19 years 275 days 20 October 1941 22 July 1961  France

Current as of New Zealand vs South Africa, 28 October 2023. Statistics include officially capped matches only. Current All Blacks are indicated in bold type.[7]

Oldest players

# Player Age DOB Last Match Opposition
1. Ned Hughes 40 years 123 days 26 April 1881 27 August 1921  South Africa
2. Dane Coles 36 years 308 days 10 December 1986 14 October 2023  Ireland
3. Brad Thorn 36 years 262 days 3 February 1975 23 October 2011  France
4. Keven Mealamu 36 years 225 days 20 March 1979 31 October 2015  Australia
5. Frank Bunce 35 years 305 days 4 February 1962 6 December 1997  England
6. John Ashworth 35 years 283 days 15 September 1949 29 June 1985  Australia
7. Richard Loe 35 years 226 days 6 April 1960 18 November 1995  France
8. Tane Norton 35 years 136 days 30 March 1942 13 August 1977 British and Irish Lions
9. Andrew Hore 35 years 72 days 13 September 1978 24 November 2013  Ireland
Colin Meads 35 years 72 days 3 June 1936 14 August 1971 British and Irish Lions

Current as of New Zealand vs South Africa, 28 October 2023. Statistics include officially capped matches only. Current All Blacks are indicated in bold type[8]

References

  1. ^ "Rugby Union | New Zealand | Most matches". ESPN scrum.
  2. ^ "Rugby Union | New Zealand | Most individual tries". ESPN scrum.
  3. ^ "Rugby Union | New Zealand | Most individual points". ESPN scrum.
  4. ^ "Rugby Union | New Zealand | Most individual points in a match". ESPN scrum.
  5. ^ "Rugby Union | New Zealand | Most individual tries in a match". ESPN scrum.
  6. ^ "Rugby Union | New Zealand | Most matches as a captain". ESPN scrum.
  7. ^ "Rugby Union | New Zealand | Youngest appearance". ESPN scrum.
  8. ^ "Rugby Union | New Zealand | Oldest appearance". ESPN scrum.
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