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Pat Lam blasts 'archaic' process that lost the All Blacks Tony Brown
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All Blacks in the RugbyPass Top 100: Who rose, fell and missed out
By Ben Smith
The All Blacks finished with 16 players in the RugbyPass Top 100 for 2025, the second-most of any country behind South Africa.
The year under Scott Robertson wasn’t regarded as a top vintage despite a three losses, to Argentina, South Africa and England, but the number two ranked side still managed to pull off big scalps over South Africa in the first Test and Ireland in Chicago.
The highest rated player was 2023 World Player of the Year Ardie Savea, who finished in the top five in fifth place for the second year running, finishing behind World Player of the Year Malcolm Marx, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Antoine Dupont and this year’s No.1 ranked player Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
The two biggest risers on the list were two playmakers for the All Blacks.
Cam Roigard, moved up 51 places into 21st position after returning from injury against the Wallabies and starting the rest of the year at No.9.
Last year’s Dream Team No.10 Damian McKenzie, moved up 38 positions to 28th overall. McKenzie produced some major cameos in 2025, most notably his last quarter stint against Scotland which including the winning try and late penalty goal to ice the win.
All three Barrett brothers made the list with Jordie Barrett the highest ranked at 17, while Scott came in 64th and Beauden in 77th after featuring at 11 last year.
Much was made of Beauden Barrett’s drop however his form at No.10 in certain games for the All Blacks was impressive enough to still make the list.
The five newcomers were Tamaiti Williams (95), Leicester Fainga’anuku (93), Fletcher Newell (82), Samisoni Taukei’aho (63), and Breakthrough Player of the Year Fabian Holland (42).
Codie Taylor, Will Jordan, Caleb Clarke, Tupou Vaa’i and Wallace Sititi all retained their spots on the list, with Jordan and Jordie Barrett the top three All Blacks along with Savea.
There were some key omissions but they were predictable and not unexpected.
Players from last year who missed the cut were Mark Tele’a, who wasn’t picked for the All Blacks after signing a deal with Toyota, Rieko Ioane, who fell out of the starting No.13 role early in the season and tried to make a second stint as a left wing, Richie Mo’unga and Sam Cane who are playing in Japan.
Mo’unga is ineligible for the All Blacks currently while Cane retired from international rugby in 2024.
Of the next generation of All Blacks coming through, perhaps the best candidates to make a rise into the Top 100 for 2026 are Peter Lakai and Ruben Love, while Quinn Tupaea had his best year of All Blacks rugby to date.
Rugby’s best of the best, ranked by experts. Check out our list of the Top 100 Men's Rugby Players 2025 and let us know what you think!
