{"id":555447,"date":"2026-07-18T03:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T03:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/555447\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T03:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T03:33:13","slug":"why-new-zealands-record-at-eden-park-might-not-be-all-it-is-cracked-up-to-be-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/555447\/","title":{"rendered":"Why New Zealand\u2019s record at Eden Park might not be all it is cracked up to be \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The standing joke about New Zealand\u2019s<\/a> unbeaten 52-match winning streak at Eden Park since France<\/a> won 23-20 in 1994 is that the All Blacks choose the opposition wisely at a given point in time and only face teams at the Auckland venue if the home team is confident about their prospects. <\/p>\n

It also helps they\u2019ve been the number-one team in the world for large tranches of the last 32 years.<\/p>\n

Australia<\/a> suffered defeat on 21 occasions in Eden Park and during the period in question (1994-2026) the Wallabies only won three times on New Zealand soil: Christchurch (1998) as part of a 3-0 Bledisloe series win; Wellington (2000) when they retained the cup by drawing the series 1-1; and Carisbrook, the House of Pain in Dunedin (2001) in a 2-0 series win.<\/p>\n

Those three Aussie wins in their neighbour\u2019s stadiums came during a five-year period (1998-2002 inclusive) in which they either won or drew the series to retain the Bledisloe Cup; a golden period if you will in every respect. In the last 24 years the Wallabies have managed one draw on New Zealand soil (2020 in Wellington) and their only victories outside Australia were a couple of wins in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

Taking the Aussies to Eden Park has been risk averse for the period in question. The All Blacks drew two matches at Eden Park during that run, the first in the match after France\u2019s win in 1994. The Springboks<\/a> were the visitors, and it was part of a 14-match tour to New Zealand.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Rob Kearney on Ireland v New Zealand: \u2018This backline is the best we have available\u2019<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Pieter Muller, who would go on to play for Greystones, and Ollie Le Roux, who enjoyed his time at Leinster<\/a>, were part of the touring squad that were 2-0 down in the Test series when they played the All Blacks but managed an 18-18 draw, having led 12-9 at the interval. The \u2018Boks went on to win the Rugby World Cup the following year.<\/p>\n

The second draw was against the British & Irish Lions<\/a> in 2017. The Test series stood at 1-1, but four penalties from Owen Farrell and a howitzer from Elliot Daly saw the Lions cling on for a 15-15 draw with Jordie Barrett a try scorer from the home side.<\/p>\n

\"Lions'Lions’ Elliot Daly kicks a penalty in the third Test against the All Blacks in July 2017. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/INPHO <\/p>\n

A late contentious decision from French referee Romain Poite in which he adjudicated accidental offside rather than a penalty, when Ken Owens played the ball in front from a Liam Williams knock-on, was a tough pill to swallow for the home side. <\/p>\n

Andy Farrell<\/a> was the Lions defence coach, Tadhg Furlong<\/a> was tighthead prop, while Robbie Henshaw<\/a>, another member of the current Irish squad although not playing in Auckland on Saturday, played in that series.<\/p>\n

Ireland have lost four previous matches against the All Blacks at Eden Park \u2013 they hadn\u2019t beaten New Zealand at that point in their history \u2013 during that period, although they did manage a win at the Auckland ground during a World Cup game against Australia. <\/p>\n

The closest they came to winning was in 2006 when going down 27-17. Clarke Dermody, the incoming Ulster<\/a> forwards coach, was a try scorer for the All Blacks, while current Ireland forwards coach Paul O\u2019Connell<\/a> crossed the All Blacks line.<\/p>\n

The closest anyone got to New Zealand at Eden Park was France, who lost the 2011 Rugby World Cup final 8-7. <\/p>\n

Will it be fifth time lucky for Ireland on Saturday morning? There aren\u2019t too many glass ceilings left for Farrell to play through in his time in charge.<\/p>\n

New Zealand\u2019s unbeaten run at Eden Park since 1994 (most recent game first)<\/p>\n

27\/09\/2025 \u2013 Australia: 33-24<\/p>\n

06\/09\/2025 \u2013 South Africa: 24-17<\/p>\n

17\/08\/2024 \u2013 Argentina: 42-10<\/p>\n

13\/07\/2024 \u2013 England: 24-17<\/p>\n

24\/09\/2022 \u2013 Australia: 40-14<\/p>\n

02\/07\/2022 \u2013 Ireland: 42-19<\/p>\n

14\/08\/2021 \u2013 Australia: 57-22<\/p>\n

07\/08\/2021 \u2013 Australia: 33-25<\/p>\n

18\/10\/2020 \u2013 Australia: 27-7<\/p>\n

17\/08\/2019 \u2013 Australia: 36-0<\/p>\n

25\/08\/2018 \u2013 Australia: 40-12<\/p>\n

09\/06\/2018 \u2013 France: 52-11<\/p>\n

08\/07\/2017 \u2013 British & Irish Lions: 15-15<\/p>\n

24\/06\/2017 \u2013 British & Irish Lions: 30-15<\/p>\n

16\/06\/2017 \u2013 Samoa: 78-0<\/p>\n

22\/10\/2016 \u2013 Australia: 37-10<\/p>\n

11\/06\/2016 \u2013 Wales: 39-21<\/p>\n

15\/08\/2015 \u2013 Australia: 41-13<\/p>\n

23\/08\/2014 \u2013 Australia: 51-20<\/p>\n

07\/06\/2014 \u2013 England: 20-15<\/p>\n

14\/09\/2013 \u2013 South Africa: 29-15<\/p>\n

08\/06\/2013 \u2013 France: 23-13<\/p>\n

25\/08\/2012 \u2013 Australia: 22-0<\/p>\n

09\/06\/2012 \u2013 Ireland: 42-10<\/p>\n

23\/10\/2011 \u2013 France: 8-7<\/p>\n

16\/10\/2011 \u2013 Australia: 20-6<\/p>\n

09\/10\/2011 \u2013 Argentina: 33-10<\/p>\n

24\/09\/2011 \u2013 France: 37-17<\/p>\n

09\/09\/2011 \u2013 Tonga: 41-10<\/p>\n

06\/08\/2011 \u2013 Australia: 30-14<\/p>\n

10\/07\/2010 \u2013 South Africa: 32-12<\/p>\n

18\/07\/2009 \u2013 Australia: 22-16<\/p>\n

02\/08\/2008 \u2013 Australia: 39-10<\/p>\n

14\/06\/2008 \u2013 England: 37-20<\/p>\n

21\/07\/2007 \u2013 Australia: 26-12<\/p>\n

02\/06\/2007 \u2013 France: 42-11<\/p>\n

19\/08\/2006 \u2013 Australia: 34-27<\/p>\n

17\/06\/2006 \u2013 Ireland: 27-17<\/p>\n

03\/09\/2005 \u2013 Australia: 34-24<\/p>\n

09\/07\/2005 \u2013 British & Irish Lions: 38-19<\/p>\n

19\/06\/2004 \u2013 England: 36-12<\/p>\n

16\/08\/2003 \u2013 Australia: 21-17<\/p>\n

22\/06\/2002 \u2013 Ireland: 40-8<\/p>\n

25\/08\/2001 \u2013 South Africa: 26-15<\/p>\n

01\/07\/2000 \u2013 Scotland: 48-14<\/p>\n

24\/07\/1999 \u2013 Australia: 34-15<\/p>\n

27\/06\/1998 \u2013 England: 40-10<\/p>\n

09\/08\/1997 \u2013 South Africa: 55-35<\/p>\n

22\/06\/1996 \u2013 Scotland: 36-12<\/p>\n

22\/07\/1995 \u2013 Australia: 28-16<\/p>\n

22\/04\/1995 \u2013 Canada: 73-7<\/p>\n

06\/08\/1994 \u2013 South Africa: 18-18.<\/p>\n

All Blacks country by country breakdown of wins at Eden Park<\/p>\n

Australia: 21<\/p>\n

South Africa: five; one draw<\/p>\n

France: five<\/p>\n

England: five<\/p>\n

Ireland: four<\/p>\n

British & Irish Lions: two; one draw<\/p>\n

Scotland: two<\/p>\n

Argentina: two<\/p>\n

Wales, Samoa, Canada, Tonga: one each.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The standing joke about New Zealand\u2019s unbeaten 52-match winning streak at Eden Park since France won 23-20 in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1451,25747,1452,61,60,1449,11287,48832,86133,67195,28580,112,1450,69607,31398,53328],"class_list":["post-555447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all-blacks","tag-andy-farrell","tag-france-rugby","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-rugby","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-lions-tour","tag-nations-championship","tag-paul-o-connell","tag-robbie-henshaw","tag-sports","tag-springboks","tag-tadhg-furlong","tag-ulster-rugby","tag-wallabies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}