There will be no All Blacks XV tour in 2026

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has confirmed its national development team, the All Blacks XV, will not tour this year.

The decision was made after considering the development opportunities of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tour, which has taken an expanded squad of 44 players to South Africa and the USA.

In a statement to RugbyPass, the governing body also noted the value of players competing in the NPC, which is often stripped of its top talent just before the playoffs, when the All Blacks and All Blacks XV squads depart for the usual November fixtures.

“The All Blacks XV is an important part of New Zealand Rugby’s high performance pathway providing a platform for the next tier of players behind the All Blacks to be exposed to international rugby,” the NZR statement read.

“The team was not assembled in 2026 due to the number of players and management required for the All Blacks tour of South Africa. NZR also believed it was important to ensure players were available to represent their Provincial Unions in the Hilux NPC.”

More than a dozen from the current All Blacks crop spent time in the All Blacks XV camp since its 2022 rebirth before filtering into the top squad, with 2026 the first year since the team was officially re-established to go without a tour.

In recent Northern Tour campaigns, members of the All Blacks XV squad have been readily available to the All Blacks as injury cover, with a select few often staying on in Europe as additional training cover. That will not be the case this year for the back end of the inaugural Nations Championship.

The tour’s gap year will see the two-year contract Jamie Joseph signed last year expire after coaching the team on just one expedition, an undefeated European run against the Barbarians, England A and Uruguay last November.

The team has previously been coached by Leon MacDonald and Clayton McMillan, with the development opportunities of facing higher-level opposition also considered an important investment in aspiring home-grown coaches.

In 2022, the team emerged from a two-match tour against Ireland A and the Barbarians with a first-up win and a loss to the latter, but has won every fixture since, including games against Japan and Georgia.