1997 British Lions tour to South Africa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

In 1997 the British Lions rugby union side toured South Africa.

This tour follows the 1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand and precedes the 2001 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.

The tour was the first after the end of apartheid in that country, and the first professional Lions tour. It was much anticipated - writing in the pre-tour brochure Mark Lampert Stokes captured the hopes of many when he said that the series "…could be said to be the first to pit a team representing all of South Africa against one bearing the colours of all of the British Isles."


Contents

[edit] Pre-tour prospects

South Africa had won the 1995 Rugby Union World Cup, but were in decline at the time. The inaugural Tri Nations in 1996 had been comfortably won by the All Blacks with South Africa winning only one of the four matches in the tournament. There was also some disarray in the management of the game in South Africa with the resignation of the coach Andre Markgraaff and the acrimonious replacement of the World Cup winning captain Francois Pienaar. Nevertheless the Lions were seen to be underdogs - for example an editorial in the South African sports magazine "SA Sports Illustrated" said "The British Lions arrived in South Africa rated - by their own media, South African media and supporters - as nothing more than rank underdogs. A nice bunch of blokes who were making a bit of history and, in so doing, winning friends rather than matches".


[edit] The results

The Lions convincingly won the first test at Newlands 25-16 with Neil Jenkins kicking five penalties and Alan Tait and Matt Dawson scoring tries. Despite scoring three tries in the second test at Durban, the Springboks suffered from some woeful goal kicking and failed to land any penalties or conversions, whilst for the Lions Neil Jenkins once again kicked 5 penalties and Jerry Guscott dropped a goal to win the match 18-15 and take the series. The third test at Ellis Park proved a match too far for the Lions squad and they lost 35-16.

The tour was a triumph for the Lions management of Fran Cotton (Manager), Ian McGeechan (Head Coach), Jim Telfer (Assistant Coach) and especially the Captain Martin Johnson. It was the last occasion on which the Lions returned victorious from a tour as it was followed by defeats in Australia in 2001, New Zealand in 2005 and South Africa in 2009.

[edit] Lions squad

The original 35 man squad was:

  • Captain and second row

[edit] Matches

[edit] First Test

21 June
 South Africa  16 – 25 Lions Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
Referee: Colin Hawke (New Zealand)
Try:Du Randt, Bennett
Con:
Pen: Lubbe, Honiball
Drop Goal:		 Try: Dawson, Tait
Con:
Pen:Jenkins (5)
Drop Goal:

South Africa: 15. Joubert 14. Small 13. Mulder 12. Lubbe 11. Snyman 10. Honiball 9. van der Westhuizen 1 du Randt 2 Drotske 3 Garvey 4 Andrews 5 Strydom 6 Kruger 7 Venter 8 Teichmann (capt). Replacements: Bennett (Unused: Dalton, Otto, Swanepoel, Theron, Wessels)

Lions: 15 Jenkins; 14. Evans 13. Guscott, 12 Gibbs, 11. Tait 10. Townsend, 9 Dawson. 1. Smith, 2 Wood 3. Wallace, 4. Johnson (capt), 5. Davidson; 6. Dallaglio, 7. Hill, 8. Rodber

  • 24 June Free State 30 Lions 52 Bloemfontein

[edit] Second Test

28 June 1997
 South Africa  15 – 18 Lions Stadium: Kings Park Stadium, Durban
Referee: ?
Try:van der Westhuizen, Montgomery, Joubert
Con:
Pen:
Drop Goal:		 Try:
Con:
Pen:Jenkins (5)
Drop Goal: Guscott

South Africa: 15. Joubert 14. Small 13. Montgomery 12. Snyman 11. Rossouw 10. Honiball 9. van der Westhuizen 1 du Randt 2 Drotske 3 Garvey 4 Strydom 5 Andrews 6 Kruger 7 Venter 8 Teichmann (capt).

Lions. 15 Jenkins; 14. Bentley 13. Gibbs, 12 Guscott, 11. Tait 10. Townsend, 9 Dawson. 1. Smith, 2 Wood 3. Wallace, 4. Johnson (capt), 5. Davidson; 6. Dallaglio, 7. Hill, 8. Rodber

  • 1 July N Free State 39 Lions 67 (Welkom)

[edit] Third Test

5 July 1997
 South Africa  35 – 16 Lions Stadium: Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
Referee: Colin Hawke (New Zealand)
Try:van der Westhuizen, Montgomery, Snyman, Rossouw
Con: de Beer (2), Honiball
Pen: de Beer
Drop Goal:		 Try:Dawson
Con: Jenkins
Pen:Jenkins(3)
Drop Goal:

Lions: 15 Jenkins; 14 Bentley, 13 Gibbs, 12 Guscott, 11Underwood; 10. Catt, 9. Dawson; 1 Smith, 2 Regan, 3 Wallace 4 Johnson (capt), 5 Davidson, 6 Wainwright, 7 Back, 8 Dallaglio

v • d • e
British and Irish Lions tours
Australia
 1888  •  1899  •  1904  •  1908  •  1930  •  1950  •  1959  •  1966  •  1971  •  1989  •  2001
New Zealand
 1888  •  1904  •  1908  •  1930  •  1950  •  1959  •  1966  •  1971  •  1977  •  1983  •  1993  •  2005
South Africa
 1891  •  1896  •  1903  •  1910  •  1924  •  1938  •  1955  •  1962  •  1968  •  1974  •  1980  •  1997  •  2009
Argentina
 1910  •  1927  •  1936
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_British_Lions_tour_to_South_Africa"
Personal tools
Languages