Rugby: New Zealand look to continue dominance in World Cup
New Zealand is a small country located in south-west Pacific Ocean .It has the population of 4,382,324 approximately, according to the 2010 census. New Zealand is very famous for rugby. It is the national game of the country.
The All Blacks represent the Rugby Union of the country. They have a winning record and have never lost a game against any test nation in history. Their ratio of winning matches is very high, almost seventy percent. In IRB World rankings, they occupy the first position. They have played over hundred matches with the top twenty teams but have never been beaten.
New Zealand compete annually with the Wallabies of Australia and Springboks of South Africa, called the Tri-Nation Series, and has been able to retain the status of champion of this Tri-Nation, during its fourteen year history. During the Bledisloe Cup and Grand slam, New Zealand defeated the four nations in 1978, 2005 and 2008.
The All Blacks or the Rugby Union of New Zealand has been dominating the world for the last few decades. They have stolen the march over almost every rugby team of the world who have faced them so far, and are unbeatable. They were named as the team of the year, in 2005, 2006, and 2008 by the IRB (International Rugby Board).
The Rugby union of New Zealand has a long history, they played their first match in 1884 against the Cumber land country, New South Wales, and played their first test match in 1903.At the beginning the team was not strong enough to compete, but later on they became so strong that, no one has been able to steal a march over them till today.
The Ruby World Cup is going to be held in September and October in Northland, New Zealand. It will be a six week tournament and around 20 countries will participate. The Rugby World Cup is the third greatest event in the world. And the following table shows the pool of the World Cup teams, who are going to compete during the upcoming event.
Group-1 Group-2 Group-3 Group-4
France England Ireland Wales
New Zealand Argentina Australia South Africa
Tonga Scotland Italy Fiji
Looking back at the track record of the New Zealand team it shows that it has been occupying the first rank position from the last almost fourteen years. No one, among the nations shown in the above table has been able to replace them during this era. According to many quarters, only the South Africa team can confront the unbeatable New Zealand team. The South African, team which came into existence in 1992 and joined the IRB in the same year, has elevated its position up to the top rankings in a very short period of time. The team has won matches against many nations at different levels of competition. However, while turning back the pages of history of the New Zealand rugby team, one comes to know that, although the South African team has been the toughest competition, it has never been able to defeat the over whelming team of All Blacks. During the fourteen year history of the Tri-Nation competition the South African team has never been able to take over the New Zealand team.
One can say that although there are three to four top level teams who have the ability to confront New Zealand in the upcoming events. Especially, South Africa is considered to be in a position to challenge New Zealand because of their good performance during the recent years.
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