Breakthrough lock on whether the All Blacks’ season was a success

Netherlands-born lock Fabian Holland considers the 2025 Test season a success for the All Blacks, who won 10 of their 13 matches. While the New Zealanders fell short of their Grand Slam goal, Holland insists the group will take plenty of positives into next year.

New Zealand started their campaign with a three-nil series sweep against France, before securing a round one win in The Rugby Championship against Argentina. Los Pumas bounced back the next weekend, before one of the more highly anticipated Tests of 2025.

The All Blacks defended their fortress yet again, extending their long-lasting winning run at Eden Park with a seven-point triumph over the Springboks. South Africa returned to winning ways in style, beating their rivals by a record 43-10 margin in Wellington.

After retaining the Bledisloe Cup with two wins over the Wallabies, the All Blacks left New Zealand’s shores for their Northern Tour. They defeated Ireland and Scotland to start, before falling to England 33-19, and ending their season on a winning note against Wales.

The All Blacks finished 2025 with a 76.9 per cent winning record under coach Scott Robertson, with Holland feeling fairly positive about the season. Two years out from the Rugby World Cup, the All Blacks will take their learnings from the year that was.

“I think it’s been a success,” Holland said on Sky Sport after the win over Wales.

“Obviously a lot of learnings but as a group, we’ve learned a lot. We’ll take it into next year and we go again.

“Few games that we wanted to win. We wanted to win the Grand Slam but how the boys got together and around each other and took each week and approached each week is something to be proud of.

“That’s what we’re trying to do. We’ll take our learnings into next year and we’ll go from there.”

The All Blacks ran away with a 52-26 win over Wales, as they brought their campaign to an end on Saturday. Wales put out an improved performance themselves, as they chased back-to-back wins at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

Caleb Clarke, Ruben Love and Tamaiti Williams crossed for a try each during the first half, as the visitors took a hard-fought 24-14 lead into the break. Wales struck first during the second term, with Tom Rogers completing a hat-trick.

Rieko Ioane, a double to Sevu Reece and another try for Clarke secured a clinical win for the All Blacks in the end. The All Blacks will face France, Italy and Ireland at home next July, when the inaugural Nations Championship gets underway.

“We just wanted to finish off the tour well,” Holland, who was later named World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year, reflected.

“Obviously disappointed with last week’s result but we just wanted to do the jersey proud and just go out with a bang.

“The boys got together, digested the loss, took our learnings, and wanted to go out here today and do the jersey proud.”