Reflections on the 2019 Rugby World Cup:

The State of the All Blacks and Global Rugby in the Age of Globalisation

Abstract

　This paper uses the cultural moment and site of Rugby World Cup 2019 to explore the state of the sports’ historically most successful team, the New Zealand All Blacks. More specifically, the paper: (a) provides a brief historical overview of the development of the professionalization and commercialisation of New Zealand rugby and the All Blacks; (b) identifies some of the contemporary challenges faced by New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and how they are responding; and, (c) offers comment on the state of the rugby as a global sport at the historical juncture of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.