The Dave Gallaher Trophy is a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

perpetual trophy contested between and . It is named after Dave Gallaher, the 1905–06 All Black captain who was killed in Belgium during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

History

When it comes to rugby,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

have a very rich common history. France played their first ever test match in 1906 against the famous "Originals" New Zealand team, on their way home after an eventful tour of the British Isles. Between 1906 and 1999 both teams met a total of 34 times, New Zealand winning 25 times and France 9, including two games in the

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

with New Zealand winning the 1987 final and France taking their revenge in the semi-final 12 years later in what remains one of the most famous upsets in the sport's history. In

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

it was decided that a new trophy would be created to emphasize the two teams' great rivalry. The trophy would be named after Dave Gallaher, the charismatic captain of the 1906 New Zealand team, who died 11 years later during the Battle of Broodseinde in

Challenges and defences

The Dave Gallaher Trophy is based on a challenge system, the holding union must defend the trophy in challenge matches, and if the other union defeats them, they become the new holder of the trophy. If both teams draw then the holder retains the trophy. Rugby World Cup games between both teams - such as the 2003 RWC 3rd place play-off won by New Zealand or the 2007 RWC quarter final won by France and 2011 RWC final won by NZL - do not qualify as challenge matches. France won the 2009 challenge 37–36 on aggregate score over two matches, having won the first test 27–22 and lost the second 10–14. The New Zealand team had assumed the series would be drawn if each team won one test, and were upset to discover that aggregate was taken into account, which their coaching staff had deliberately withheld from them. New Zealand would retain the trophy for 12 years until being defeated 40–25 by France in Paris.

Matches

Results

* – Summer Test * – Autumn International

Other trophies

The All Blacks compete with three other nations for the attribution of a similar kind of trophy. The Bledisloe Cup, versus

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, being the most famous. The other two are the Freedom Cup against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and the Hillary Shield against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. As for France, they compete with Australia for the Trophée des Bicentenaires and with Italy for the Garibaldi Trophy.

Notes and references

External links

The Dave Gallaher Trophy results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dave Gallaher Trophy Rugby union international rivalry trophies International rugby union competitions hosted by France International rugby union competitions hosted by New Zealand History of rugby union matches between France and New Zealand 2000 establishments in France 2000 establishments in New Zealand