All Blacks Biggest Win: Record Scores and Historic Margins

The All Blacks’ biggest win is their 145–17 victory over Japan at the 1995 Rugby World Cup — a 128-point margin that remains the largest in the team’s history and one of the most lopsided results ever recorded in international rugby. New Zealand’s senior men’s side has produced several record-breaking scorelines over the decades, from century demolitions of smaller touring sides to the famous 57–0 shutout of South Africa in 2017. This guide sets out each landmark result, explains the records they still hold, and puts them alongside the All Blacks’ other heaviest wins. For reference, a Test match is a senior international between two national teams; a try is worth five points and a conversion (the kick taken after a try) is worth two.

What is the All Blacks’ biggest win?

The All Blacks’ biggest win by any measure is the 145–17 defeat of Japan on 4 June 1995, played at Springbok Park (now Free State Stadium) in Bloemfontein during the pool stage of the 1995 Rugby World Cup. New Zealand crossed for 21 tries and ran up the highest score a team has ever posted in a Test. The 128-point margin has not been matched by any All Blacks side before or since.

Because the 145 points and the 128-point margin come from the same game, the All Blacks’ “biggest win” and their “highest score” are one and the same match — a point worth keeping straight when comparing records.

The 145–17 against Japan at the 1995 World Cup

Two individual records set that afternoon still stand. First five-eighth Simon Culhane, playing his first Test, scored 45 points — one try and 20 conversions — which remains both the most points by any player in a Test and the most on international debut. Winger Marc Ellis scored six tries, a record for an All Black in a Test and a mark equalled only a handful of times in World Cup history.

The match itself also holds several world records that have survived for three decades: the 162-point aggregate (both teams combined), the 23 total tries and the 22 total conversions are each the most in any Test, not just in World Cup matches.

The scoreline came in New Zealand’s final pool match of the 1995 tournament, by which point the side had already qualified for the knockout rounds. That same All Blacks team — driven through the tournament by a young Jonah Lomu — went on to reach the final, where they lost 15–12 to the host nation, South Africa, after extra time and a late Joel Stransky drop goal. The Japan result therefore sits in a campaign that ended in defeat, a useful reminder that a record win does not always translate into silverware.

Why the 145–17 still stands as the record

Scorelines on this scale have become rarer as weaker nations have professionalised and as organisers have seeded tournaments to avoid heavy mismatches. Australia did score more points in a single game — 142–0 against Namibia at the 2003 World Cup — but that is a different team’s record and still fell short of New Zealand’s 145. For the All Blacks specifically, no result has come close to the 1995 margin, which is why it is consistently listed as their record win.

The All Blacks’ biggest win over South Africa

The All Blacks’ biggest win over South Africa is the 57–0 result at North Harbour Stadium in Albany, Auckland, on 16 September 2017, during the Rugby Championship. It was the heaviest defeat in Springbok history, eclipsing their 53–3 loss to England at Twickenham in 2002, and only the fifth time in what was then a 94-Test rivalry that South Africa had been kept scoreless. The deeper history of that fixture is covered in our guide to All Blacks vs Springboks.

Inside the 57–0 at Albany

New Zealand scored eight unanswered tries and led 31–0 at half-time. Wing Nehe Milner-Skudder scored twice, with further tries from Rieko Ioane and lock Brodie Retallick, and then from the replacements Scott Barrett, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Lima Sopoaga and hooker Codie Taylor. First five-eighth Beauden Barrett added a penalty and seven conversions, landing eight of his nine kicks for 17 points. Hooker Dane Coles, who started the match, helped create Retallick’s try just before the break. The scale of the win came from New Zealand’s accuracy under pressure rather than any single passage of play.

The 57–15 in Durban a year earlier

The Albany result replaced the previous record, a 57–15 win at Kings Park in Durban on 8 October 2016. That match featured nine tries and had, until 2017, stood as the All Blacks’ biggest win over the Springboks by margin. The two games carry the same winning score, but the shutout in Albany is generally ranked higher because South Africa failed to register a single point.

The All Blacks’ biggest wins against each major rival

A “biggest win” question is often really about record margins against specific opponents. The table below gathers the All Blacks’ heaviest victories against their most notable rivals, ordered by margin. These sit within the wider record books of the Rugby World Cup and the annual southern-hemisphere championship.

Against Australia, New Zealand’s biggest margin is the 43–5 win in Sydney on 31 October 2020, which secured the Bledisloe Cup and remains the heaviest defeat the All Blacks have inflicted on the Wallabies. Against Ireland, the record is the 60–0 win in Hamilton on 23 June 2012 — Ireland’s largest defeat to this day.

The biggest scores, as with Japan, came against smaller nations at World Cups: 108–13 against Portugal at the 2007 tournament in Lyon (a 95-point margin) and 101–3 against Italy at the 1999 tournament in Huddersfield. These results are reminders that the headline numbers depend heavily on the strength of the opponent — a 57–0 over a top side such as South Africa is a very different achievement from a century run against a developing team.

The All Blacks’ century club

Scoring 100 or more points in a single Test is rare, and New Zealand has done it only three times — all at Rugby World Cups: 145 against Japan in 1995, 108 against Portugal in 2007 and 101 against Italy in 1999. Those three matches account for a large share of every 100-point total ever recorded at the tournament, which is why the All Blacks feature so prominently in the all-time scoring lists. In each case the points came against a nation ranked well below New Zealand, and the gap has narrowed in the professional era as organisers have worked to avoid the most extreme mismatches.

How the All Blacks built a record like this

New Zealand has played Test rugby since 1903 and holds the highest win percentage of any major international side, which is the backdrop to these record results. A detailed match-by-match record of the New Zealand national team is maintained on Wikipedia.

The playing depth behind the big wins is produced by a connected pathway: school and club rugby feed the provincial National Provincial Championship (NPC), which feeds the five New Zealand Super Rugby Pacific franchises — the Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders and Highlanders — which in turn supply the national squad. New Zealand Rugby generally requires players to be based domestically to be eligible for selection, which keeps its leading players inside this system. Results like the 57–0 came during a sustained period of success under coaches such as Steve Hansen in the 2010s, won against the backdrop of the Rugby Championship.

Common misconceptions about the All Blacks’ biggest win

The most frequent mix-up is treating the “biggest win” and the “biggest win over South Africa” as the same record. They are not: the overall record is the 145–17 over Japan, while the 57–0 is specifically the biggest win over the Springboks and the biggest over a leading rugby nation.

A second error is assuming the 57–0 is the All Blacks’ biggest win outright — it is their most complete performance against a top-tier opponent, but the margin (57) is far smaller than the 128 points against Japan.

A third is attributing Australia’s 142–0 win over Namibia to New Zealand; that is a separate team’s record and does not affect the All Blacks’ marks. Finally, in the amateur era before 1992 a try was worth four points, so direct point comparisons with very early matches can be misleading. For the opposite side of the ledger, see the All Blacks’ heaviest defeats in our piece on the All Blacks biggest loss.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the All Blacks’ biggest win of all time?

Their biggest win is 145–17 against Japan at the 1995 Rugby World Cup in Bloemfontein on 4 June 1995. The 128-point margin is the largest in All Blacks history and the 145 points remain the most any team has scored in a Test.

What is the All Blacks’ biggest win over South Africa?

It is the 57–0 win at Albany on 16 September 2017. That scoreline is the heaviest defeat in Springbok history and one of only a handful of Tests in which South Africa has been kept scoreless against New Zealand.

Who set records in the 145–17 win over Japan?

Simon Culhane scored 45 points on his Test debut — still the most points by a player in a Test and the most on debut — and Marc Ellis scored six tries, a record for an All Black in a single Test.

Why is the 57–0 ranked above the 57–15 win in Durban?

Both were 57-point scores against South Africa, but the 2017 Albany match kept the Springboks scoreless, whereas the 2016 Durban game conceded 15 points. The clean sheet is why the 57–0 is regarded as the more complete performance.

What is the All Blacks’ biggest win over Australia?

It is the 43–5 win in Sydney on 31 October 2020, a 38-point margin that is the heaviest defeat New Zealand has handed the Wallabies and which retained the Bledisloe Cup.