It was in 1929 that the contests between the great antipodean rugby union rivals truly began, with the Wallabies and New South Wales sharing the representative duties of the Australian nation prior to that.

In earlier years, rugby union was not recognised as a pre-eminent sporting code in Australia; while the All Blacks had already established themselves in rugby folklore with the 'Originals' in 1905 - in which the All Blacks were dubbed with their current name - and the might of the 'Invincibles', when they toured the United Kingdom and won every match.

The record between the nations until this point read 11 wins to New Zealand and just the two victories to the Australians. In 1928, Queensland began to impact on the national game – and the following year the Wallabies defeated the touring All Black team 3-0. To this day this consecutive winning run has never been bettered.

In 1931, the Governor General of New Zealand, Lord Bledisloe, fostered a cup to represent matches between the All Blacks and the Wallabies. The All Blacks won the inaugural series two games to one, with the Wallabies triumphing three years later.

It would then be 15 long years before the Wallabies tasted success over the All Blacks again as the New Zealanders built a nine-game winning streak over the Australian team. However, in 1949 the Wallabies took their first series win on New Zealand soil, beating the All Blacks 2-0.

Between 1951 and 1978, the All Blacks carved their name in the history books as a genuine world power. In 1956, they handed the Springboks their first-ever series loss, and twice nearly recorded home-union whitewashes, before Graham Mourie’s team won the All Blacks' maiden Grand Slam. Over this period New Zealand won 26 games against the Wallabies, losing to them only five times in 27 years – the longest winning sequence of any major rugby championship in history.

However, in 1980, the Australian team won the Bledisloe series 2-1 to win their fourth Bledisloe Cup. This began the modern era for Wallaby rugby, with the emergence of two brothers - Glen and Mark Ella – and the winning of the first Australian Grand Slam in 1984. Despite this manifestation, the Wallabies would only win the Bledisloe once more in the eighties (1986), the only time the All Blacks did not win the series from 1982 to 1991.

The following decade saw the All Blacks win the inaugural and their only World Cup. Four years later, the Wallabies - a genuine world power for barely ten years - recorded the first of their two World Cup triumphs, beating the All Blacks in the semi-final.

The early 90s saw the great antagonists share the honours as the All Blacks began rebuilding under coach Laurie Mains and the Wallabies were ending a golden era under coach Bob Dwyer.

In 1995, professionalism was ushered into the game with the creation of SANZAR, and the following year the inaugural Super 12 and Tri-Nations tournaments began. Under the leadership of All Black legend Sean Fitzpatrick, the All Blacks were unbeaten against the Wallabies for three years, and recorded their first series win in South Africa and won the first two Tri-Nations crowns.

In 1996 the All Blacks recorded what was then the heaviest defeat on the Wallabies in the rain of Wellington, thrashing them 43-6 after the Australians famously turned their back on the New Zealand haka.

However, Rod McQueen was appointed Wallaby coach in 1998 to begin the finest period in Australian rugby union history. Over the next five years they would hold the Bledisloe Cup, and in Sydney 1999 mete out the heaviest defeat ever inflicted on the All Blacks - 28-7. They also recorded their maiden series win over the British Lions.

In the 1999 World Cup, after the French defeated the All Blacks in the semi-final, John Eales famously remarked to coach McQueen: “We’ve just won the championship”. The Wallabies went on to defeat Les Bleus in the most lopsided final in World Cup history to win the trophy for the second time.

In 2003, the All Blacks embarked on what would become one of the greatest eras in their history, winning back the Bledisloe Cup which they have not lost since, and losing only three times to the Wallabies in five years. However, after pummelling the Australians 50-21 in Sydney in 2003 – the worst defeat ever in suffered by the Wallabies on home soil - they famously lost to Australia in the semi-final of that year’s World Cup.

The foes have played out some of the greatest games in Rugby history; most prominent being the Bledisloe Cup game in Sydney 2000. In front of a world record 109,874 fans, the All Blacks raced out to an astonishing 24-0 lead in the first eight minutes. The Wallabies then staged the most incredible of comebacks to lead with time up, before Jonah Lomu scored in the final seconds to win the game 39-35.

Purists of the game would argue that the greatest rivalries in rugby union would be All Blacks v Springbok clashes or England v France contests. But there is no doubt that the greatest modern contest between nations is that between New Zealand and Australia.

The Wallabies glean no greater satisfaction than by defeating their trans-Tasman rivals, whilst the All Blacks will readily admit that no team in world rugby poses a greater threat than an Australian outfit.

New Zealand v Australia (128 games played since 1903): All Blacks 85 wins, Wallabies 38, five draws. Average points: NZ 18.71, Australia 12.94. Biggest New Zealand win: 43-6 (Wellington, 1996), Biggest Australia win: 28-7 (Sydney, 1999).