It’s a long old unbeaten run at Eden Park

NEW ZEALAND have played 37 Tests at Eden Park over the course of 23 years since they last lost there – the famous occasion when Luc Sadournay’s try from the end of the world helped defeat the All Blacks 23-20. Is it any wonder they want to play not one but two of the Lions Tests at their Auckland citadel.

Bear in mind also that prior to that defeat against France the last time New Zealand had lost at Eden Park was in 1986 against Australia.

The only time during their extraordinary 37-game run that New Zealand failed to score a try came in the first match after the France defeat, when New Zealand escaped with an 18-18 draw against South Africa, but having got that wobble out of the way the All Blacks were up and running.

The Australians, inevitably given Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup matches, have been their most beaten opponents with 14 defeats, while New Zealand’s biggest victory was a 73-7 trouncing of Canada in 1995. Meanwhile Richie McCaw was involved in 24 of those 37 wins, one more than Keven Mealamu.

The closest shave was the 2011 World Cup Final when the best that can be said is that a very sympathetic performance from referee Craig Joubert saw a visibly nervous New Zealand scrape home 8-7.

Another match that could have gone the other way was when England, albeit without a host of players delayed by the Premiership Cup Final the previous week, went very close in 2014 before losing 20-15. Freddie Burns had a particularly impressive match that day but his reward was to get dropped.

Eden Park is comfortably New Zealand’s biggest ground – normally at 50,000 but extended to 60,000 for the 2011 World Cup – and is one of the grounds where it can get noisy and the crowd plays a role. That probably came into play most during the RWC where New Zealand, beset with injuries, weren’t always at their best and occasionally needed the imput from the 16th man.