1974 British Lions tour to South Africa

In 1974 the British Lions toured South Africa. The tour was a great success, the Lions winning 21 of their 22 matches and drawing the other. After winning the first three test matches, the Lions drew the final test to preserve their unbeaten record. The side was captained by Willie John McBride, coached by Syd Millar and managed by Alun Thomas.

The best known and most successful Lions team was that which toured South Africa in 1974 under the esteemed Irish forward Willie John McBride, that went 22 games unbeaten and triumphed 3-0, with one drawn, in the test series. The test series was beset by violence. The management of the Lions concluded that the Springboks dominated their opponents with physical aggression. At that time, in test matches the referee was from the home nation, there were only substitutions if a doctor agreed that a player was physically unable to continue and there were no video cameras and sideline officials to keep actions such as punching, kicking, and head-butting to a minimum. The Lions decided "to get their retaliation in first" with the infamous '99 call' (99 is a shortening of 999 which in Britain and Ireland is the phone number for the emergency services such as the police, ambulance or fire brigade). The idea was that a South African referee would be unlikely to send off all of the Lions if they all retaliated against "blatant thuggery". At the battle of Boet Erasmus Stadium, one of the most violent in rugby history, there is famous video footage of JPR Williams running over half of the pitch and launching himself at van Heerden after such a call.

Squad

Management

Backs

Forwards

Results

!Date	Opponent	Location	Result	Score
Match 1	May 15	Western Transvaal	Potchefstroom	Won	59-13
Match 2	May 18	South West Africa	Windhoek	Won	23-16
Match 3	May 22	Boland	Wellington	Won	23-6
Match 4	May 25	Eastern Province	Port Elizabeth	Won	28?14
Match 5	May 29	South West Districts	Mossel Bay	Won	97-0
Match 6	June 1	Western Province	Cape Town	Won	17-8
Match 7	June 4	SA Federation XV (Proteas)	Goodwood, Cape Town	Won	37-6
Match 8	June 8	SOUTH AFRICA	Cape Town	Won	12-3
Match 9	June 11	Southern Universities	Cape Town	Won	26-4
Match 10	June 15	Transvaal	Johannesburg	Won	23-15
Match 11	June 18	Rhodesia	Salisbury	Won	42?6
Match 12	June 22	SOUTH AFRICA	Pretoria	Won	28-9
Match 13	June 27	Quaggas	Johannesburg	Won	20?16
Match 14	June 29	Orange Free State	Bloemfontein	Won	11-9
Match 15	July 3	Griqualand West	Kimberley	Won	69-16
Match 16	July 6	Northern Transvaal	Pretoria	Won	16?12
Match 17	July 9	SA Africans (Leopards)	East London	Won	56?10
Match 18	July 13	SOUTH AFRICA	Port Elizabeth	Won	26?9
Match 19	July 17	Border	East London	Won	26?6
Match 20	July 20	Natal	Durban	Won	34?6
Match 21	July 23	Eastern Transvaal	Port Elizabeth	Won	33?10
Match 22	July 27	SOUTH AFRICA	Johannesburg	Draw	13-13