They have been a part of New Zealand Rugby since the team was founded in 1937 by two ex-All Blacks, Ronald Bush and Hubert McLean, who captained their first game (against Auckland) in 1938.

[1] To mark the club's 50th Jubilee, an unbeaten five-match tour to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland was undertaken in March 1987, two months before the inaugural World Cup, where they recorded wins against Leicester (33-3), Wanderers (Dublin) (34-3), Ballymena (29-4), Cornwall (63-9).

There were thirteen All Blacks in the party of 22 and a further six future caps, with Wayne Smith being drafted in from Italy as a replacement for one game.

The 2003 match played at Twickenham was viewed at the time as something of a festival affair to celebrate the home country's recent RWC success.

Falling as it did during the British, Irish and European club championships, both sides struggled to assemble "full strength squads" indeed the England XV featured only five RUWC cup winners.Contractual difficulties with clubs releasing players resulted in the NZ Barbarians side being deemed - in comparison to previous touring parties - as at best only "competitive" and the England XV side ran out very comfortable winners, 42-17.