Quin Strange named NZR Almanack promising player

As the record-breaking run of the All Blacks set at 18 Tests last year is under threat, the editors of the New Zealand Rugby Almanack have come up with some salve for prespectively distraught fans in their 2017 edition.

Once again the place of the All Blacks among the world's sporting teams is highlighted.

Their all-time winning record sits at 77 percent.

If England, who are challenging the All Blacks' winning streak of 18 Tests, were to achieve that winning percentage they would need to win every one of their next 600 Tests and at 12 Tests per year over 50 years, which is what it would take, that would have to be one of the great winning streaks of all time.

In the 21 years since professionalism occurred in the game, the All Blacks have achieved a winning percentage of 84 percent. It was 71 percent during the amateur era.

In the professional era the All Blacks have lost only 36 games. Next fewest losses are the 84 England have sustained.

Since the World Rugby rankings were introduced after the 2003 Rugby World Cup the All Blacks have only ranked lower than second for one week.

England, the World Cup champions in 2003 held No.1 for 34 weeks. South Africa around the time of their 2007 World Cup success were No.1 for 59 weeks. But for the remaining 600 weeks, the All Blacks have been No.1.

The editors of the Almanack have added lustre to the most recent deeds of the All Blacks, with facts that would otherwise rarely surface.

In 2016 the All Blacks broke the record for most tries in a year with 38 in the Investec Rugby Championship. They also scored a record 262 points and achieved maximum points 30 in winning every game of the Championship with a bonus point.

But in the year overall they finished with 80 tries, one short of the world record of 81 set by the All Blacks in 2003. Second highest were England with 46. By converting 60 of their 80 tries the All Blacks set another world record.

Of their total points scored during the year the All Blacks hit 71 percent from tries. Next highest England hit 54 percent.

Again, in the 21 years of professionalism, the All Blacks have scored 50 or more tries in 14 of those years, including in each of the last seven years. No other team has managed to score 50 tries more than three times. And none have scored 50 since 2007.

Also to the All Blacks' credit is their achievement in winning 10 games after their 2015 Rugby World Cup victory. That bettered the post-World Cup record set by the 2011 winners. Before 2011 no team had won more than four games post their World Cup success.

The 1987 Cup winners enjoyed a 17-Test run without defeat but had a draw in their second Test against Australia in 1988.

Beauden Barrett, the World Rugby player of the year, not only landed a New Zealand record 50 conversions in Super Rugby last year, but broke the world record by landing 40 conversions in Tests against tier one nations.

The Almanack has also decided after 82 years that women can no longer be ignored and they have become eligible for inclusion in the players of the year section, and Fiao'o Faamausili is the first recipient of the honour, joining Beauden Barrett, Ryan Crotty, Wyatt Crockett and TJ Perenara as the players of the year.

Promising players named were Jordie Barrett, George Bridge, Aotearoa Kate Mata'u, Quinten Strange and Jaye Thompson-Te Muunu.

The editors have also decided to revert to the Almanack's original policy of naming a player only once as a player of the year.

2017 Rugby Almanack, edited by Clive Akers, Geoff Miller and Adrian Hill. Published by Mower. Price $55.