History of rugby union matches between Italy and New Zealand

The All Blacks first played against Italy at the opening game of the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987, beating them 70-6 at Eden Park, Auckland. The two teams have played a total of 16 Test matches recognised by both sides as full internationals, with New Zealand winning all of them by an average margin of 51 points.

The two sides have been in the same pool in 7 of the 10 Rugby World Cup tournaments to date but have only played each other 6 times because Typhoon Hagibis caused their scheduled meeting in the 2019 tournament to be cancelled. The first 11 meetings between the two sides since their first clash in 1987 were never played at the same venue, then two tests had been held back to back at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Summary

Note: Summary below reflects test results by both teams.

Overall

Records

Note: Date shown in brackets indicates when the record was or last set.

Results

No.	Date	Venue	Score	Winner	Competition
1	22 May 1987	Eden Park, Auckland	70 – 6	New Zealand	1987 Rugby World Cup
2	13 October 1991	Welford Road Stadium, Leicester, England	31 – 21	New Zealand	1991 Rugby World Cup
3	28 October 1995	Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna	6 – 70	New Zealand	1995 New Zealand rugby union tour of Italy and France
4	14 October 1999	McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield, England	101 – 3	New Zealand	1999 Rugby World Cup
5	25 November 2000	Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa	19 – 56	New Zealand	2000 end-of-year internationals
6	8 June 2002	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton	64 – 10	New Zealand	2002 Italy rugby union tour
7	11 October 2003	Colonial Stadium, Melbourne, Australia	70 – 7	New Zealand	2003 Rugby World Cup
8	13 November 2004	Stadio Flaminio, Rome	10 – 59	New Zealand	2004 end-of-year internationals
9	8 September 2007	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille, France	76 – 14	New Zealand	2007 Rugby World Cup
10	27 June 2009	AMI Stadium, Christchurch	27 – 6	New Zealand	2009 mid-year internationals
11	14 November 2009	San Siro Stadium, Milan	6 – 20	New Zealand	2009 end-of-year internationals
12	17 November 2012	Stadio Olimpico, Rome	10 – 42	New Zealand	2012 end-of-year internationals
13	12 November 2016	Stadio Olimpico, Rome	10 – 68	New Zealand	2016 end-of-year internationals
14	24 November 2018	Stadio Olimpico, Rome	3 – 66	New Zealand	2018 end-of-year internationals
–	12 October 2019	City of Toyota Stadium, Toyota, Japan	0 – 0	Match cancelled 1	2019 Rugby World Cup Pool B
15	6 November 2021	Stadio Olimpico, Rome	9 – 47	New Zealand	2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals
16	29 September 2023	OL Stadium, Lyon	17 – 96	New Zealand	2023 Rugby World Cup

Notes

^1 The 2019 Rugby World Cup match between the two sides was cancelled due to Typhoon Hagibis and awarded in the tournament as a 0–0 draw.

XV Results

Below is a match that Italy has awarded test match status by virtue of awarding caps, but New Zealand did not award caps.

Date	Venue	Score	Victor	Competition	Comments
22 October 1977	Padua	9 – 17	New Zealand	1977 New Zealand rugby union tour of Italy and France	Italian President's XV - not classed as a full international
28 November 1979	Rovigo	12 – 18	New Zealand	1979 New Zealand tour of England, Scotland & Italy	Classed as a full international by Italy only

References

• Pick and Go Test Match Results Database

This page was last edited on 7 February 2024, at 12:02