An historic New Zealand 'Original All Blacks' shirt from the tour of the British Isles and France in 1905-06, with fern badge and canvas overlay to th

An historic New Zealand 'Original All Blacks' shirt from the tour of the British Isles and France in 1905-06, with fern badge and canvas overlay to the shoulders and upper chest and back, small areas of damage, leather neck line extending down the lacing-v The Original All Blacks, also simply known as ''The Originals'', were the first New Zealand national rugby union team to tour outside Australasia. They toured the British Isles, France and the United States of America during 1905-1906. Their opening game was against Devon on 16 September 1905 whom they defeated 55-4. Such was the surprise that some newspapers in Britain printed that Devon had scored 55 points and not the All Blacks. They went on to defeat every English side that they faced, including a 16-3 victory over English county champions Durham.They defeated the national teams of Scotland, Ireland and England and suffered their only loss of the 35-match tour when defeated 3-0 defeat by wales at Cardiff Arms Park. The 1905 All Blacks tour of Britain went on to achieve legendary status within the rugby world and New Zealand in particular. They scored 976 points and conceded only 59, and thus set the standard for all subsequent All Black sides. The tour also saw the first use of the All Blacks nickname and established New Zealand's reputation as a world class rugby nation as well as the famous black shirt becoming an international sporting icon. The present ''Originals'' shirt is believed to have been worn in the match v Swansea at St Helens Ground 30th December 1905, the last match in Britain before the tour proceeded to France. THE PROPERTY OF MUMBLES RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB, SWANSEA, WALES