1997 British Lions tour to South Africa

The 1997 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa was a series of matches played by the British and Irish Lions rugby union team in South Africa.

This tour followed the Lions' 1993 tour to New Zealand and preceded their 2001 tour to Australia.

The much-anticipated tour was the first after the end of apartheid in that country, and the first professional Lions tour.

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".

The results

The Lions convincingly won the first test at Newlands 25-16 with Neil Jenkins kicking five penalties and Matt Dawson and Alan Tait 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 to level the scores at 15-15 before Jerry Guscott dropped a goal for an 18-15 lead for the Lions. The Lions then held off a ferocious South African fightback, Lawrence Dallaglio putting in a magnificent try-saving tackle, 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.

Lions squad

The original 35 man squad was:

• Captain and second row

• • Martin Johnson (Leicester and England)
• Full backs
  • Neil Jenkins (Pontypridd and Wales)
  • Tim Stimpson (Newcastle and England)
• Wingers
  • Nick Beal (Northampton and England)
  • John Bentley (Newcastle and England)
  • Ieuan Evans (Llanelli and Wales)
  • Tony Underwood (Newcastle and England)
• Centres
  • Allan Bateman (Richmond and Wales)
  • Scott Gibbs (Swansea and Wales)
  • Will Greenwood (Leicester and England)
  • Jeremy Guscott (Bath and England)
  • Alan Tait (Newcastle and Scotland)
• Fly-halves
  • Paul Grayson (Northampton and England)
  • Gregor Townsend (Northampton and Scotland)
• Scrum-halves
  • Matt Dawson (Northampton and England)
  • Austin Healey (Leicester and England)
  • Rob Howley (Cardiff and Wales)
• Props
  • Paul Wallace (Saracens and Ireland)
  • Jason Leonard (Harlequins and England)
  • Graham Rowntree (Leicester and England)
  • Tom Smith (Watsonians and Scotland)
  • Dai Young (Cardiff and Wales)
• Hookers
  • Mark Regan (Bristol and England)
  • Barry Williams (Neath and Wales)
  • Keith Wood (Harlequins and Ireland)
• Second Row
  • Jeremy Davidson (London Irish and Ireland)
  • Simon Shaw (Bristol and England)
  • Doddie Weir (Newcastle and Scotland)
• Back Row
  • Neil Back (Leicester and England)
  • Lawrence Dallaglio (Wasps and England)
  • Richard Hill (Saracens and England)
  • Eric Miller (Leicester and Ireland)
  • Scott Quinnell (Richmond and Wales)
  • Tim Rodber (Northampton & England)
  • Rob Wainwright (Watsonians and Scotland)

Matches

Scores and results list British Lions's points tally first.

	Date	Opponent	Location	Result	Score
Match 1	24 May	Eastern Province XV	Telkom Park, Port Elizabeth	Won	39–11
Match 2	28 May	Border	East London	Won	18–14
Match 3	31 May	Western Province	Cape Town	Won	38–21
Match 4	4 June	Mpumalanga	Witbank	Won	64–14
Match 5	7 June	Northern Transvaal	Pretoria	Lost	30–35
Match 6	11 June	Gauteng Lions	Johannesburg	Won	20–14
Match 7	14 June	Natal	Durban	Won	42–12
Match 8	17 June	Emerging Springboks	Wellington	Won	51–22
Match 9	21 June	SOUTH AFRICA	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	Won	25–16
Match 10	21 June	Free State	Bloemfontein	Won	52–30
Match 11	28 June	SOUTH AFRICA	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	Won	18–15
Match 12	1 July	Northern Free State	Welkom	Won	67–39
Match 13	5 July	SOUTH AFRICA	Ellis Park, Johannesburg	Lost	16–35

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

Second Test

28 June 1997	South Africa	15 – 18	Lions	Stadium: Kings Park Stadium, Durban Referee: Didier Mene (France)
	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

Third Test

5 July 1997	South Africa	35 – 16	Lions	Stadium: Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg Referee: Wayne Erickson (Australia)
	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

Preceded by 1993 Tour to New Zealand

Tour to South Africa 1997

Succeeded by 2001 Tour to Australia