1978 New Zealand rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland

March 2014 April 2026 New Zealand 1978 Russell Thomas Graham Mourie 18 17 0 1 4 4 0 0 Ireland 1 1 0 0 Wales 1 1 0 0 ENG 1 1 0 0 SCO 1 1 0 0 In 1978 the New Zealand national rugby union team, the All Blacks, toured Britain and Ireland. They were the eighth All Black team to undertake a full tour of the countries and became the first to achieve a Grand Slam by beating the national teams of Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland. The previous seven touring teams had either lost or drawn at least one international, or had not played all four nations. The New Zealand team played eighteen matches between 18 October and 16 December, winning seventeen games and losing once, to Munster at Thomond Park, Limerick. This was the first time that an All Black team had been beaten in Ireland and it remained the All Blacks' only defeat by any Irish team until they lost to the Ireland national team in 2016. The Munster victory inspired a stage play, Alone it Stands. Although the All Blacks won their four international matches, three of the games were undecided until close to the end. The match against Ireland was level 6–6 at the end of normal time and was settled by Andy Dalton's try in injury time. Against Wales, a 78th-minute penalty goal by replacement full-back Brian McKechnie turned a 12–10 deficit into a 13–12 win. In the Scotland game the All Blacks led 12–9 going into injury time and a drop goal attempt by Ian McGeechan, which would have tied the scores if successful, was charged down and led to a breakaway try for New Zealand by Bruce Robertson. Matches Scores and results list New Zealand's points tally first. Opposing Team For Against Date Venue StatusCambridge University 32 12 18 October 1978 Grange Road, Cambridge Tour matchCardiff 17 7 21 October 1978 Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff Tour matchWest Wales XV 23 7 25 October 1978 St Helen's, Swansea Tour matchLondon Counties 37 12 28 October 1978 Twickenham, London Tour matchMunster 0 12 31 October 1978 Thomond Park, Limerick Tour matchIRELAND 10 6 4 November 1978 Lansdowne Road, Dublin Test matchUlster 23 7 7 November 1978 Ravenhill, Belfast Tour matchWALES 13 12 11 November 1978 Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff Test matchSouth and South-West Counties 20 0 15 November 1978 Memorial Ground, Bristol Tour matchMidland Counties 20 15 18 November 1978 Welford Road, Leicester Tour matchCombined Services 34 6 21 November 1978 Aldershot Military Stadium, Aldershot Tour matchENGLAND 16 6 25 November 1978 Twickenham, London Test matchMonmouthshire 26 9 29 November 1978 Rodney Parade, Newport Tour matchNorth of England 9 6 2 December 1978 Birkenhead Park, Birkenhead Tour matchNorth and Midlands 31 3 5 December 1978 Linksfield Stadium, Aberdeen Tour matchSCOTLAND 18 9 9 December 1978 Murrayfield, Edinburgh Test matchBridgend 17 6 13 December 1978 Brewery Field, Bridgend Tour matchBarbarians 18 16 16 December 1978 Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff Tour match Test matches Ireland 4 November 1978 IRE 6–10 NZL Ward (2) Dalton Bruce (2) Lansdowne Road, Dublin Clive Norling (WRU) The All Blacks opened the scoring with a dropped goal by Bruce, with Ward's penalty making the score 3–3 at half-time. Bruce put the visitors ahead again with a further dropped goal before Ward levelled again with another penalty. The score remained at 6–6 as the game went into injury time but an unconverted try by Dalton after Donaldson's break from a line-out gave New Zealand a 10–6 victory. Rothmans Yearbook called it a "tense, if unspectacular, struggle in perfect playing conditions" and asserted that the All Blacks "deserved their narrow victory" after winning 31 of the 40 line-outs in the game.Rothmans p25-26 NEW ZEALAND: Clive Currie, Stu Wilson, Bill Osborne, Mark Taylor, Brian Ford (rep Bryan Williams), Doug Bruce, Mark Donaldson, Bill Bush, Andy Dalton, Brad Johnstone, Andy Haden, Frank Oliver, Graham Mourie (c), Leicester Rutledge, Gary Seear. IRELAND: Larry Moloney, Terry Kennedy, Mike Gibson, Alistair McKibbin, Freddie McLennan, Tony Ward, Colin Patterson, Ned Byrne, Pa Whelan, Phil Orr, Moss Keane, Donal Spring, Fergus Slattery, Shay Deering (c), Willie Duggan Wales 11 November 1978 WAL 12–13 NZL Davies (3) Fenwick Wilson McKechnie (3) Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff Roger Quittenton (RFU) NZ was accused of cheating in this test match by jumping out of the line-out in order to fool the referee into giving them a last-minute penalty kick.‘Brazen All Blacks cheated Wales out of a deserved victory’ https://nation.cymru/sport/brazen-all-blacks-cheated-wales-out-of-a-deserved-victory/ 2026-07-31 nation.cymru England 25 November 1978 ENG 6–16 NZL Hare Hare Oliver Johnstone McKechnie McKechnie (2) Twickenham, London Norman Sanson (SRU) Scotland 9 December 1978 SCO 9–18 NZL Hay Irvine McGeechan Seear Robertson McKechnie (2) McKechnie (2) Murrayfield, Edinburgh John West (IRFU) Touring party Manager: Russell Thomas Assistant Manager: Jack Gleeson Captain: Graham Mourie Physiotherapist: Brian McKenzie Full back Clive Currie, Brian McKechnie, Richard Wilson Three-quarters Stu Wilson, Robert Kururangi, Brian Ford, Bryan Williams, Bruce Robertson, Lyn Jaffray, Mark Taylor, Bill Osborne Half-backs Doug Bruce, Eddie Dunn, Dave Loveridge, Mark Donaldson Forwards Brad Johnstone, John Ashworth, John McEldowney, Gary Knight, Andy Dalton, John Black, Bill Bush, John Fleming, John Loveday, Andy Haden, Frank Oliver, Barry Ashworth, Leicester Rutledge, Graham Mourie, Wayne Graham, Gary Seear, Ash McGregor References Sources Vivian Jenkins Vivian Jenkins Rothmans Rugby Yearbook 1979–80 1980 Queen Anne Press 0354090879 External links 1978 Tour in Details 1978 1978 1978 1978 1978 Tour Category:1978–79 in Irish rugby union Category:1978–79 in English rugby union Category:1978–79 in Welsh rugby union Category:1978–79 in Scottish rugby union Category:1978–79 in British rugby union