New Zealand Kiwis
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| Nickname | The Kiwis | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governing body | NZRL | ||||||
| Region | Asia-Pacific | ||||||
| Head coach | David Kidwell | ||||||
| Captain | Jesse Bromwich | ||||||
| Most caps | (55) | ||||||
| Top try-scorer | Manu Vatuvei (22) | ||||||
| Top point-scorer | Matthew Ridge (168) | ||||||
| RLIF ranking | 2nd | ||||||
| First international | |||||||
 Wales 9–8 New Zealand  (Aberdare, Wales; 1 January 1908) |
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| Biggest win | |||||||
 Tonga 0–74 New Zealand (Auckland, New Zealand; 1999) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||||||
New Zealand 0–58 Australia  (Wellington, New Zealand; 14 October 2007) |
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| World Cup | |||||||
| Appearances | 14 (first time in 1954) | ||||||
| Best result | Champions, 2008 | ||||||
The New Zealand national rugby league team (Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name. The team's colour's are majority black with white and the players perform a haka before every match they play as a challenge to their opponents. The New Zealand Kiwis won the most recent Four Nations competition in 2014 and, since the 2015 Anzac Test, New Zealand are the number one ranked team in the world by the RLIF. Since the 1980s, most New Zealand representatives have been based overseas, in the professional National Rugby League and Super League competitions. Before that players were selected entirely from clubs in domestic New Zealand leagues.
A New Zealand side first played in a 1907 professional rugby tour which pre-dated the birth of rugby league football in the Southern Hemisphere, making it the second oldest national side after England. Since then the Kiwis have regularly competed in international competition, touring Europe and Australia throughout the 20th century. New Zealand have competed in every Rugby League World Cup since the first in 1954, reaching the final of the past three tournaments. In 2008 New Zealand won the World Cup for the first time. They also contest the Baskerville Shield against England, and play an annual Anzac Test against Australia.
Rugby football was introduced into New Zealand by Charles John Monro, son of the then speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, Sir David Monro. He had been sent to Christ's College, East Finchley in north London, where he became an enthusiastic convert to the new code. He brought the game back to his native Nelson, and arranged the first rugby match between Nelson College and Nelson Football Club, played on 14 May 1870.
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