The team were met in Britain by local rugby administrators , including an official of England 's Rugby Football Union ( RFU ) . The first match of the tour was against Surrey , where the team became the first New Zealand side to perform a haka , and also the first to wear an all black uniform . That the team was predominantly Māori provoked curiosity from the British press – at the time , most Britons had not seen non @-@ white people – but it was some surprise that the team were not as " Māori " as had been expected . " They are not unlike Europeans , " a Scottish reporter wrote in November 1888 ; " that is their resemblance is great when one remembers that they were a savage tribe no further back than a generation " . The Surrey match , which was refereed by the RFU secretary George Rowland Hill , was won 4 – 1 by the Natives after they scored two tries .