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The New Zealand rugby team, famously known as All Blacks, have a remarkable statistics to their name to not just argue that they are the greatest rugby team of all time (which they easily are), but perhaps the greatest team of all sports in history.
Comparing the All Blacks to other teams
Of course, when the search is for the greatest sporting team of all time, the findings are few. West Indies cricket team, for example, can be considered as a rival to All Blacks’ argument of holding that spot. But, even though they were intimidating and invincible during their peak times, their era is far less small than the New Zealand rugby team. If West Indies’ success ran across of couple of decades, New Zealand lists in the top rugby teams for more than 150 years.
Then there is US Basketball team and Brazilian football team. But their records vis-à-vis All Blacks are too inferior to be even considered in the debate.
High win-percentage
To see the New Zealand team’s records is to witness a marvel. The All Blacks have lost just once in 33 tests since 2011. If you turn back the clock to 2004, a year after All Blacks lost in the World Cup, and when most of the senior members of the team were retiring, the men in black boast a stunning 88 percent winning rate since then. Not just this decade, All Black has to its name an impossible figure of 77% win percentage in the last 150 years.
To further add impetus to their argument as the greatest sporting team of all time, their aura in the rugby spectrum should not be avoided. The Irish Rugby team, which presently stands at #3 in World Rugby Rankings, has never won against the Kiwis in 28 matches that span for more than a century.
However, even in their near flawless record, there is a black spot that can go against them. The All Blacks records in the World Cups are subpar by their high standards. Since the inception of Rugby World Cup in 1987, the All Blacks has won it just twice in seven attempts. In its latest installment in 2011, however, All Blacks got hold of the trophy after 24 years. But their inability to win world cup and choke at crucial stages questions the credibility, if only for the critics, of All Blacks being the greatest ever.
For many, there is no definite answer to the question of the greatest team ever – and even no answer at all. Different sports have different level of competitions and so it may be quite absurd to compare teams of different sports. But the way All Blacks have performed consistently throughout their sporting history, it only becomes tempting to compare their success to the success of other sporting teams. It is, ultimately, for the viewer to decide whether the New Zealand rugby team is the greatest sporting team of all time, or just the greatest rugby team.
