in 1902, the governor of new zealand, the fifth earl of ranfurly presented a trophy shield to the auckland side, who were undefeated in provincial competition that year. the shield became known as the ranfurly shield. three years later, a 1905 new zealand team, who became known as the "originals", toured the british isles and france winning all of their games apart from controversially losing the test against wales. as the team swept through britain, some of the players took note of how rugby (league) was being played in the north of england. one player, aucklander george smith met with sydney entrepreneur james j. giltinan on his way home, and discussed the opportunities of such a game. meanwhile, new zealander albert henry baskervill had contacted the northern union to arrange a new zealand tour, as he had just read about the game in the wellington post. the nzrfu discouraged any involvement from its players and officials, nonetheless, a team departed a travelled to sydney first, and were there labelled the all golds, a play on all blacks in reference to the player payments. the team went on to tour england. they played an import role in rugby league.