The All Blacks have not played many matches at Melbourne, which is hardly surprising given rugby’s status as a minor sport in Victoria. Even during the 1930s, which was the golden age of Victorian rugby and a time when at least one test team was picked with more Victorians in it than New South Welshmen, the All Blacks did not play in the southern city. Melbourne did not host its first All Black test until 1997, but that was a memorable occasion that almost made the wait worthwhile. A brief summary of New Zealand matches in Melbourne follows:

1888
The New Zealand Native team played two matches at Melbourne on their way to England, winning the first 3-0 (three tries at one point each) and drawing the second 1-1. The second half of the return match was played under a cloud, as news that Bob Seddon, the captain of the British team that was touring Australia, had just died in a rowing accident on the Hunter River. The telegram with this information was read to the crowd at the interval.

1889
When the Natives returned from their monumental 74-match British tour they again played matches in Melbourne as well as points further north. They had been coached in Australian Rules football while away by Jack Lawlor, a prominent Melbourne coach, but his teaching did not make a lot of impact as the Natives were well beaten by most of the major clubs. Thus what had been seen as a way to pad receipts was actually an expensive flop. The rugby went better for the Natives, who beat Melbourne Club 13-6 (tries were still worth one point and conversions two), a Naval Officers XV, chosen from the crews of two warships in port, by 13-5 and Victoria by 19-0; this last match saw revised scoring used and tries were worth two points while conversions counted three. The eight Aussie Rules matches saw the Natives win three, with the best win that over South Melbourne, and suffer heavy defeats to Carlton, Essendon and St Kilda among the five losses.

1910
New Zealand Maori played two matches against Victoria at the end of their tour, winning both easily (32-5 and 50-11). Establishing a tradition that became a profound feature of most All Black matches n the southern city, individuals set notable scoring records with Charles Ryland scoring four tries in the first match and RL Dansey five in the second. Both matches were refereed by former All Black Tom Pauling, who had settled in Sydney and become one of Australia’s leading whistlers.

1926
The All Blacks played their first match in Melbourne as part of their Australian tour. Although rugby was not being played in Queensland at this time the game was getting a reasonable following in Melbourne, although no national teams were picked until 1929. New Zealand beat the state team 58-15, with Bill Elvy scoring five of the 14 tries. Reg Lane, the Victorian captain, had played for New South Wales in 1921.
A week after the All Blacks had played at Melbourne, the New Zealand Maori team called in on its way to Ceylon and Europe, playing two matches. They beat Melbourne 30-0 and Victoria 57-0, although local press reports suggest few of the top players turned out for the home team. Hare Phillips enjoyed his time in Melbourne, scoring four tries in the first game and three in the second.

1928
The All Blacks played one match at Melbourne on their way home from South Africa. It turned into a benefit for Charlie Rushbrook, who was playing what proved to be his last match for New Zealand. The Wellington winger scored seven tries, setting a New Zealand fist-class record that was not matched until 1957 and only beaten in 1962, while he converted one try for a 23-point haul. New Zealand won 58-9.

1929
The All Blacks played An Australian XV at Melbourne rather than the local state team, even if the home side was made up of 10 local players and five from New South Wales. Best known of the locals was Gordon Sturtridge, who became Victoria's first Wallaby when he was chosen for the second test on this tour. New Zealand had to battle a little harder than expected before winning 25-4.

1935
New Zealand Maori played Victoria during their tour, winning 28-16. This was a good Maori team that included George Nepia and Charlie Smith, a winger most thought should have been chosen for the 1935-36 All Black tour to Britain, but his outspokenness was a point against him in the selection room. Victoria included six Wallabies – Bob Westfield, Ru Dorr, Dave Cowper, Owen Bridle, Weary Dunlop and Evan Jessep. Dunlop later became one of Australia’s most famous war heroes for his treatment of POWs in Japanese camps and was knighted for prolonged service to his fellow man. His statue stands in the gardens of the Shrine of Remembrance on St Kilda Road and his state funeral attracted a crowd estimated at 100,000.

1949
New Zealand Maori opened its 11-match tour with a fixture against the Southern States (Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania) at Melbourne. This match, played at the MCG, resulted in a handsome 35-8 win for the tourists.

1951
New Zealand played An Australian XV at Melbourne and won easily by 56-11. Ron Jarden was at the top of his form; he had just scored 38 points at Parkes midweek (6t, 10c) and followed with another 28 (which would have equalled the old New Zealand first-class record) on Saturday (5t, 5c, 1p). He would have scored more but gave the easier conversion attempts to team-mates, as well as handing over a couple of tries when the defence was beaten cold. Under modern scoring values Jarden would have registered 88 points in the two matches. The Australian team was led by first test captain Arch Winning and included five forwards from that match, although the backs had a few untried players who were under consideration for test spots. In the wake of the huge defeat, none were promoted for the second test.

1955
The first official match ever played by a New Zealand Colts team saw the Colts beat Victoria by 17-3 at Melbourne. The New Zealanders, who included Colin Meads and Wilson Whineray in their ranks, were heading to Ceylon for a five-match tour.

1957
New Zealand met Victoria towards the end of their 13-match tour, which saw the All Blacks return unbeaten. Having piled up some huge scores in recent matches the All Blacks were favoured to do so again but staunch defence by the home side held the margin to 28-3 on a fine afternoon. Russell Watt scored three of New Zealand’s six tries. Although a kicking contest between Don Clarke and leading Australian Rules footballers was mooted, the Australian union outlawed it as the local men were professionals.

1958
New Zealand Maori became the first team to play a test at Melbourne, although they didn’t realise that until 1986 – which was when the Australian union, for reasons known only to themselves, raised matches between New South Wales or Australia and New Zealand Maori played between 1922 and 1958 to test status. New Zealand Maori won the match, played at Olympic Park, 13-6 to level the here match series at 1-1 with a draw.

1962
The All Blacks closed their 10-match tour with an easy win over Victoria at Melbourne, winning 58-3. Don McKay scored his third hat-trick in a week for the All Blacks, while Stan Meads and Dennis Young both kicked conversions. Don Clarke kicked the harder goals but gave teammates who had not scored many points on tour the easier shots. This time the desired meeting between Clarke and Rules star Ted Whiten – one of the code’s all-time greats - did come off and Australian media hacks were stunned when Clarke won quite easily.

1964
A New Zealand Colts team, led by Chris Laidlaw and including a number of future (and some current) All Blacks beat Victoria 60-3 at Melbourne. This team was restricted to players under the age of 21 but had no restrictions imposed if such a player was already an All Black.

1968
New Zealand beat Victoria 68-0 at Olympic Park, with Grahame Thorne and Tom Lister scoring hat-tricks. Alan Sutherland, having his first outing as the kicker on tour, scored 27 points (1t, 9c, 2p) – still a record for an All Black forward in any match.

1972
New Zealand Juniors beat Victoria 15-6 in their tour opener. This was the first time the Juniors (under-23 team) had toured Australia and they returned unbeaten.

1974
New Zealand beat Victoria 41-3 in the third match of what would eventually prove to be an unbeaten tour.

1980
New Zealand beat Victoria 45-6 in a lacklustre performance in the third match of their tour.

1984
New Zealand beat Victoria 65-3, with Robbie Deans scoring 25 points (1t, 9c, 1p), taking his total for the tour to 73 after just three matches.

1988
New Zealand beat a Victorian Invitation XV 84-8 at Melbourne in the penultimate match of their tour. John Gallagher scored 36 points (4t, 10c) and John Kirwan bagged a hat-trick. Peter FitzSimons, who had set out to niggle the New Zealanders throughout the match, was sent off in the second half.

1992
New Zealand beat the Victorian President’s XV 53-3 in the midweeker following the first test, in a match of few highlights.

1997
New Zealand played their first test against Australia at Melbourne, winning 33-18 in front of a world record verified crowd of 90,119. There are a couple of matches, at Johannesburg and Murrayfield, where the estimated crowd figure is higher but there had never been an all-ticket attendance as high. It easily beat the previous record crowd for a Bledisloe Cup match – 50,000 – which had stood since 1907. Estimates suggested as many as 15,000 New Zealanders made the trip across for this match and pumped some $35 million into the Victorian economy. Carlos Spencer scored 18 points for New Zealand, who won easily enough. John Eales threw what was probably the only punch of his entire test career at Sean Fitzpatrick after the All Black skipper had niggled away non-stop for most of the match; Eales just happened to be right in front of the referee, who awarded a penalty to New Zealand.

1998
The first of two Bledisloe Cup matches in Australia was again awarded to Melbourne, but difficulties with the Melbourne Cricket Club, which included barring the New Zealand television crews from the venue and the sight of an almost empty members section, meant that the ARU took almost a decade before giving the MCG another test. The 75,000-strong crowd saw Australia win in commanding style, posting a 24-16 victory in which Matt Burke scored all Australia’s points. He set a test record for all countries for points against New Zealand, which was beaten by Christophe Lamaison at the 1999 World Cup. This was the first of a run of five consecutive losses for the All Blacks and their first-ever Tri-nations loss after sweeping the first two series.

2003
New Zealand was based at Melbourne for much of the World Cup, playing their matches at the Telstra Dome in Docklands rather than the MCG. The All Blacks won all three of their Melbourne matches, beating Italy 70-7, Canada 68-6 and South Africa 29-9 in the quarter-final.

2007
Despite leading 15-6 at halftime New Zealand was beaten 20-15 in the Tri-nations match at the MCG. Tony Woodcock opened the scoring with his first test try; within two years he would have five, all against Australia.

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