The Best All Blacks Wingers of All Time

New Zealand has been famous for many years, for producing some of the best rugby players of all time. This doesn’t even apply to a couple of positions either. Across the board, they have produced players that you can put your money on and rely on.

However, this post will be looking at the best All Blacks wingers in history. With the perfect mix of strength and speed, there have been a number of world-class Kiwi’s who have owned their positions over the years.

Julian Savea

A player who barely needs an introduction is Julain Savea. The winger has played 54 times for his national side, and while he has recently fallen out of favour – he hasn’t played a test for the Kiwi’s since 2017 – his record is still remarkable.

In 54 games, he has scored 230 points. During his time in the team, New Zealand scored 234 times, which averages to about 4 tries a game. Savea scored 20% of them, an incredible number for any player.

Joe Rokocoko

Another name that many rugby fans will be aware of is that of Joe Rokocoko. Known for his almost lightning pace, Rokocoko played a total of 69 games for the Kiwi’s between 2003 and 2010, and scored 235 points.

Rokocoko was also known for his ridiculous strength. As mentioned, wingers almost always have pace and muscle, but Rokocoko had all that and more, including the footwork you would associate with a Fijian or Samoan Sevens player.

Ron Jarden

A pioneer of the wing position for the Kiwi’s, Ron Jarden played for his national side between 1951 and 1956. He made 16 appearances for the team, and scored 42 points. While those numbers are small by today’s standards, they were incredible back then.

Tries were somewhat harder to come by back then and players were not as muscular as they were fast. Either way, during his career in the All Blacks squad, his tries made up a whopping 28% of all those scored by the team.

Stu Wilson

Another player that some fans may be accustomed with is that of Stu Wilson. He played for the All Blacks between 1976 and 1983, making 34 appearances and scoring 76 points. His low tally was for the same reason as Ron Jarden’s low tally – teams just didn’t score as many tries. However, he scored 19 tries during his time in the international team, which at the time accounted for 25% of the total tries scored by the Kiwis during his time in the squad.

Rieko Iaone

As a modern day player, Rieko Iaone has been playing for the All Blacks since 2016 and has made 34 appearances, scoring 130 points. He has terrorised opponents in the sevens format, playing in 9 competitions between 2015 and 2016.

With regards to his numbers in relation to the New Zealand squad, since he made his debut back in 2016, the All Blacks have been scoring, on average, almost 5 tries a game when Iaone has been on the field. Whether he is scoring tries or not, his influence is obvious.

Christian Cullen

A player who has played for his national team, the New Zealand U21’s and the New Zealand Barbarians, Christian Cullen was a try-scoring machine during his time with the Kiwis between 1996 and 2003.

In his 60 appearances, he scored 266 points, averaging about a try a game. His records speak for themselves, he is the second highest try scorer in the Tri-Nations and he was the first player to score a try in every Tri-Nations test. At the time of his retirement, he was the Kiwi’s leading try scorer with 46, however, that record was broken by the next man on our list.

Doug Howlett

Doug Howlett played for the Kiwis between 2000 and 2007. He made 63 appearances for the team and scored a total of 245 points. He was known for his explosive pace, as well as strength on and off the ball.

He scored his 49 tries in his 63 tests, and also played during a time where New Zealand were scoring an average of 4.87 tries per game. As mentioned, he also took over the title of New Zealand’s leading try scorer from Christian Cullen.

Jonah Lomu

Jonah Lomu is one of the most famous wingers and rugby players to ever play the game. He made 73 appearances for his national team between 1994 and 2002, scoring 215 points in the process.

He was a player that struck fear into his opponents, because not only was he built like a brick wall and stood at 6 feet 5 inches and weighing in at 120kgs; he was incredibly fast and had the footwork of a professional dancer. He was the benchmark that every other wing was trying to reach while he was playing.

As you can see, New Zealand has been the home to some incredible wingers, even some that were or are the best in the world. While many of these game-changing players have long since retired, there is no doubt that New Zealand can easily produce the next “big thing”.