The Black Ferns took 117 Tests and 32 years to reach the milestone.
Black Ferns Test Wins by opposition:
Australia – 24/24
England - 19/30
Canada - 17/17
USA - 12/13
Wales - 6/6
France - 6/10
Scotland 4/4
Samoa 2/2
Germany 2/2
World XV 2/2*
South Africa 1/1
Spain 1/1
Hong Kong 1/1
Japan 1/1
Kazakhstan 1/1
Ireland 1/2
The Black Ferns first official Test win was against Wales (24-6) at The Dairyfield, Llanharen, Wales on Wednesday, 6 April 1991. Canterbury Policewomen Helen Mahon-Stroud scored the first try.
The Black Ferns are the quickest Tier I country to achieve 100 Test wins. England reached the landmark in 119 Tests in 2006. England has won 261 Test matches since their first Test in 1987, a 22-4 win against Wales in Pontypool. The Red Roses won their 100th Test match on March 1, 2006, when they beat France 28-0 at Stade Robert Bobin, Bondoufle. France has won 184 Test matches since their first success against the Netherlands (4-0) in the first official women’s international in 1982. Their 100th Test win was against Italy 45-14 on March 13, 2010, at Stade du Manoir, Montpellier.
The Black Ferns longest winning streak is 24 from 2002 to 2009. They won 20 Tests in a row from 1994 to 2001 and are presently on a 14-match winning streak.
The Black Ferns biggest Test win is 134-6 against Germany at the 1998 World Cup. They scored 22 tries. The record for most tries in a Black Ferns Test by an individual is nine by Vanessa Coutts in a 109-0 win against France in 1996.
Kendra Cocksedge was involved in 54 of the Black Ferns first 100 Test wins. Fiao’o Fa'amausili won 50 Tests and Anna Richards 47. Cocksedge holds the record for the most conversions in a Test. She kicked 13 in a 121-0 win over Hong Kong in 2017.
Monalisa Codling won all 30 Test matches she played. Melissa Ruscoe was 22-0 in Tests.
Dame Farah Palmer won the most Tests as captain with 29/30. Fiao’o Fa'amausili won 28/35 and Ruahei Demant is 13-0.
The Black Ferns won 12 Test matches last year, the most they have won in a calendar year. England has the record for most Test wins in a calendar year with 15 but lost to the Black Ferns 41-32 in the World Cup final.
The Black Ferns have won 36 of their 100 Tests at the World Cup, including the overall tournament six times. They have scored 1764 points and conceded only 323 in that tournament. The Black Ferns have scored 289 World Cup tries, and kicked 143 conversions. They have won 13 World Cup Tests in a row. The Black Ferns have scored 40 or more points in 24 of their 38 World Cup Tests.
Glenn Moore won the most Tests as a coach with 26/33. Darryl Suasua won 22/23.
The All Blacks have won 481 out of 626 Tests. The All Blacks won their 100th Test after 142 matches against Wales in Christchurch (33-12) in 1969. Fullback Fergie McCormick scored a then-world-record 24 points.
The Black Ferns have been one of the most consistently dominant international female sports teams since their inception in 1989.
The Black Ferns celebrate a 44-0 win over Australia at Carisbrook in 1997. (Photosport)
When looking across women’s sport, some of the other teams to sit on a podium alongside the Black Ferns include:
The American women’s soccer (football) team has won four World Cup and Olympic Games gold medals. They have won 569 and drawn 83 and lost 71 of their 723 internationals. The Australian women’s cricket team has won the World Cup six times since 1973, more than all the other teams combined. Additionally, they have won five of the seven ICC T20 World Cups and in 2020 drew a world record crowd of 86,174 to the MCG for the final against India. The Australian netball team has never missed the World Cup final in 15 tournaments, winning 11 times. The Dutch women’s hockey team are eight-time World Champions since 1974 and has won the Olympic gold medal a record four times. The USA women’s basketball team has won the last seven Olympic gold medals and has an overall record of 72-3. The USA water polo team has been a perennial powerhouse for much of its existence. Between 2012 and 2020 they won four World Cup titles and three Olympic gold medals. They once embarked on a streak of 69 wins in a row and a 172-5 run over five years. US beach volleyball duo Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor won 112 matches in a row, eclipsing their own record of 89 on the trot.
The Black Ferns next game is against USA at TD Place, Ottawa, in the Pacific Four on Saturday 15 July, 8am NZT.
* World Rugby disputes the status of the two wins against the World XV in 2003 being counted as internationals but they are officially acknowledged as Test caps by New Zealand Rugby.