The 1974 Tour of the Lions to South Africa was undoubtedly the most unsettling tour ever for Springbok rugby. Touring unbeaten through South Africa superior in every aspect in virtually every single match including the test matches it was a massive wake-up call for South African rugby.
I was 12 years old when this tour eventuated. In my mind at that time the Springboks had an aura of invincibility. I was too young to know about the 1956 and 1965 tours as the patriotic Afrikaans media did not write much about it. The country was still in euphoria after the 1970 victory over Lochore’s All Blacks and the unbeaten 1971 tour to Australia. It was never said in so many words but generally the 1972 loss against England was seen as just a hiccup; a fleeting glitch due to team selections and underestimation of the opposition.
South Africa, to be brutally honest, had no idea what was coming when the British and Irish Lions arrived in the country in May 1974. Hannes Marais admitted to this when he said in an interview that the South African expectation of the ‘74 Lions was built on the 1968 Lions which was in his words “a pretty useless lot; just on tour for the party”.
Some proper reflection on British rugby in general would have revealed that rugby in the United Kingdom was on an upward curve and that a significant transformation took place in how they approach the game. England for example toured to South Africa in 1972 beating the Springboks in a one-off test and then followed it up by beating the All Blacks in 1973 in New Zealand; revealing that the 1972 victory over the Springboks was not a flux and/or the results of South Africa being poor on the day. British rugby become a lot more professional in terms of coaching and preparation of players in the late nineteen sixties as was evident by the fact that the 69/70 EOYT Springboks could not win a single test match in the UK. The failure of the 69/70 South African tourists was never really dissected by the South African media and rugby administrators as the heavy resistance against the tour took precedence upon reflection of the tour. In fact Gerhard Viviers the Afrikaans rugby commentator wrote a book about that tour called “Rugby agter doringdraad” (Rugby behind barbwire) which in essence was a very patriotic account of that tour putting the blame for failure squarely on the behaviour of the British demonstrators without saying it in so many word.
In the midst of all this the Lions toured to New Zealand in 1971 and won the series. The success of the 1972 England team to SA, the 1973 England team to New Zealand as well as the 1971 Lions series win in New Zealand left clear signals that British rugby was on a high but somehow this escaped the awareness of the South African rugby community.
The real stars of that 1971 series were players from Wales with some stand-outs from Scotland as well indicating that England was not the only team on an upward curve in the United Kingdom in the early nineteen seventies. In addition, the Lions coach Syd Millar did his homework and came to South Africa properly prepared while South African rugby (administrators, coaches, selectors and senior players) were seemingly totally oblivious to what was heading their way.
Fact is that the 1955 British and Irish Lions were considered by Danie Craven to be the best side (that was before the 1974 Lions) to have toured South Africa. So not all Lions sides was poor as Marais seems to have thought at the start of the 1974 Lions tour and a bit of research would have revealed to him that the 1974 side had a core of experienced internationals that toured New Zealand and beaten the All Blacks at home in 1971.
Positions |
1971 Lions |
1974 Lions |
| Fullbacks | R Hiller JPR Williams |
Andy Irvine JPR Williams |
| Threequarters
|
JC Bevan AG Bigger SJ Dawes TGR Davies DJ Duckham AJ Lewis JS Spencer CWW Rea |
RTE Bergiers GW Evans TO Grace IR McGeechan RA Milliken AJ Morley CFW Reas WCC Steele JJ Williams |
| Halfbacks | GO Edwards CMH Gibson R Hopkins B John |
GO Edwards P Bennett CMH Gibson JJ Moloney AGB Old |
| Forwards
|
RJ Arneil GL Brown AG Carmichael TM Davies PJ Dixon TG Evans ML Hipwell FAL Laidlaw JF Lynch WJ McBride J McLauchlan RJ McLoughlin JV Pullin DL Quinnell MG Roberts JF Slattery CB Stevens J Taylor WD Thomas |
MA Burton GL Brown AG Carmichael TM Davies FE Cotton T David KW Kennedy SA McKinney A Neary WJ McBride J McLauchlan CW Ralston AG Ripley RM Uttley RW Windsor JF Slattery |
Players like John Pullin, Alan Old, Mike Burton, Tony Neary, Andy Ripley, Fran Cotton, Alan Morley, Mike Burton and Chris Ralston also played in the 1972 for England against South Arica and most probably in 1973 against New Zealand.
South Africa however didn’t have television in 1971 so South Africans didn’t see that series against the All Blacks. In addition the last Springbok tour to the UK was in 1969 so the SA rugby fraternity hardly knew the players that were coming to the country. They had no idea really that coaching and training methods had taken a more professional turn in the UK.
As it were the only easy obtainable information available about the Lions was in in the form of pull-out brochures ‘like the one shown below published in popular magazines such as the Huisgenoot (You). The articles were mostly focussing on introducing the players and were very superficial with regard to what it actually revealed about the players.
The ’74 Lions side had no weaknesses and they came to South Africa with a thorough understanding of the Springboks mind-set. It was McBride’s 5th tour as a British and Irish Lions; his first Lions tour to South Africa was in 1962. They knew that if you can beat the Springboks in the scrums they can be beaten so they targeted the scrum. Millar the coach told his troops at the start of the tour: “You’ll scrums and scrum and scrum for the next few months until you’re sick of it, but if we want to beat these bastards we need to out scrum them.” And that is exactly what they did; purposely targeting the scrum in every single provincial match leading up to the first test; scrumming the opposition into the ground. McLauchlan at loose-head proved a stumbling block to most opponents and often the Lions front row was so low that the hooker, especially Windsor, frequently struck with his head.
The perfect balance of the pack; in binding and positioning of feet, plus the driving over the ball followed by the pause and ‘holding’ when required, produced a high standard of scrummaging. The eight man shove on their opponents ‘put in’ was most effective and the low straight as a table position of every member in the pack was impressive.
The big test was however in the first test and that first scrum was the place where they took control and did the damage.
This next video shows the highlights of the four test matches.
Notice how the Springboks get pushed back in the scrum in the first test. Snyman dropped a goal from the ball that came out of that scrum which diffused the humilation somewhat and disguised the true impact of that scrum on the test and series a bit. See also in the material on the second test how stable the Lions scrum where when Edwards launched a box kick the led to JJ Williams first try. In comparison see how the Springboks where pushed back in the scrum that led to Gordon Browns try towards the end of the clip on the second test. SA were put under so much pressure in the scrum that the backline could not function properly and in the case of Browns try in the second test the pressure culminated in an inability make a proper clearance kick which allowed the Lions to run at them so that Brown could score.
Another very famous aspect of this tour was the 99-call. The Lions decided that they are not going to allow the Springboks to intimidate them and whenever there is any form of physical intimidation they are going to jump in retaliate on the call 99. This next video clip shows the 99-call being put into action during the third test in Port Elizabeth.
JPR Williams famously ran 55 meters from his fullback spot to go and punch Moaner van Heerden when the 99-call was made.
This next video features interviews with some Lions players about the 99-call.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eha1IdQkz-k
The lions ran away with the provincial matches as can be seen in this SLIDE SHOW (CLICK HERE) I’ve put together on the 1974 tour.
The games against Western Province, Transvaal and Free State had significant impact on the series.
Western Province ran the ball at the Lions and scored two good tries on a dry field. This was incidentally the last time a try was registered on a Saturday match against the Lions up to the fourth test.
The success of the WP backline and the ability of their pack to manage upfront had however a misleading effect on the South African selectors. They selected essentially a Western Province team that could run at the Lions. There were eight (9 if you include Gert Muller who started his international career playing for Western Province) in the Springbok team and I can still remember the newspaper headlines complaining that there were too many WP players in the team. The Rapport’s (leading Afrikaans Sunday newspaper) head line was that irrespective of the result (win, draw or lose) there simply was too many Western Province players in the Springbok team.
Ironically, Newlands was heavy with rain on test day and the Lions controlled the match with forwards and scrumhalf while the Springboks never tried to run the ball.
The Transvaal match was played just before the second test. The Lions had flu in the camp and was playing without playmaker Gareth Edwards and they were struggling with the high altitude. This left the impression that they were vulnerable in the pack at altitude and the selectors as a consequence opted for Highveld players like Nic Bezuidenhout, Dave Fredrickson, and Kevin de Klerk in the pack. Morné du Plessis was moved from No8 to 6 and Dougald McDonald was brought in as No8. In total there where 6 changes and one position shift to the team. Gerald Bosch was brought in on flyhalf with the idea to play a tight game and controlling proceeding with Bosch from the No10 position. The Lions however took control up front and the Springbok pack could not dominate in the scrums and line-outs.
The near success of the Free State team against the Lions two Saturdays before the third test saw the selectors going for quite a number of Free State players in team selection for that deciding test match. Jackie Snyman was moved to flyhalf, Gerrie Sonnekus was selected as scrumhalf while Jan Schlebusch and Peter Cronje was brought in on centre. The pack also featured players who played well against the Lions in matches for Free State, the Quagga barbarians and Northern Transvaal in the weeks building up to the third test. John Williams was replaced by Johan de Bruyn, Polla Fourie and Klippies Kritzinger got selected as loose forwards While Moaner van Heerden replaced Kevin de Klerk on the other lock. Piston van Wyk was brought back as hooker. In total 9 changes and one positional shift was made to the team that played in the second test.
Polla Fourie revealed in 1980 that they felt like a bunch of lost sheep going into that 3rd test. There were no structures, set moves, and cohesiveness in the team due to the multiple changes and the fact that most of the players have never played together. The biggest mistake was the selection of Gerrie Sonnekus on scrumhalf in place of the injured Paul Bayvel ahead of players like Barry Wolmerans and Gert Schutte. Sonnekus had a shocker and received much of the blame for the Springboks struggling performance which was a bit unfair as the pack was comprehensively beaten. JJ Williams repeated his feat of the second and scored another double in the third test match.
The last test was a draw 13 all and is remembered mainly for the fact that Max Baise -the referee- disallowed what the Lions believed was a try by Fergus Slattery in the dying seconds. It is interesting how this is mentioned and elaborated on during interviews with Lions players of that tour. Ignored is the fact that Max Baise awarded a try to Roger Uttley after Chis Pope dotted it down in his own in goal area. Ignored also is the fact that the pass by Gareth Edwards that lead to Andy Irvine’s try seemed to have been forward.
The fourth test is further more remembered for the outstanding line-out play of John Williams; the pass that Gert Muller knocked on with an open run to the goal line after a brilliant line break by Jackie Snyman and the fact that Peter Cronje scored the Springboks first and only try in the series.
Below is a summary of the 1974 tour. It was a devastating experience for SA rugby fans but in hindsight one that seemed to have spirited SA rugby to adjust. At the end of that year the Boks toured to France and won the series. A feat that was repeated when France toured to SA in 1975 and in 1976 South Africa won a series against the All Blacks. The Springboks had a brilliant show against a world international XV in 1977 and then won an outstanding series against the Lions in 1980 while also beating the Jaguars and Ireland in two respective series consisting of two test matches each. In addition there was a one off test match against France in 1980 that the Springboks won quite comprehensively. The team that toured to New Zealand in 1981 was also very competitive.
GBS the table gets a bit messed-up every time you edit the piece. The names in the table merge into one line. The option is to either go back in after you clicked update and enter a paragraph space between the names or keep all in one row but put a ; between the names (example AGS OLd; P Bennett).
I don’t want to go in due to fear that I’ll mess-up the youtube clips you’ve inserted.
1 @ McLook:
Sorry, was still busy editing and was interrupted by a call… saw the anomalies whilst editing and being interrupted and have now fixed them.
@ grootblousmile:
😯 has Rugi been kakked on for mistakes on an article? 😆
3 @ Sharks_forever:
Arghhhh, I take it in my stride.
Just concentrate on your Spelling and Punctuation… hehehe
To me the Britsh Lions tour to South Africa in 1974 has always been the pinnacle of rugby.
The most momentous International tour ever!
I saw my first ever Test at Loftus in 1974, these Lions against our Springboks…. and will always remember the 28 / 9 loss the Springboks suffered against the men captained by Willie John McBride.
I was consumed by rugby at that age of 9 almost 10… made “Plakboeke”, made wooden figurines of the players which I cut out of wood and hand painted… and cut out every newspaper clip of the whole tour, I could find anywhere in the Afrikaans newspapers my father brought home as well as in the magazines like Huisgenoot which my mother bought.
I was hooked on rugby… and of course what made it worse was that about 5 houses up from us in Wynn Avenue, Eldoraigne – Piet Greyling the legendary Springbok flanker lived and I was friends with his son, Johan.
Wonder what happened to Johan in life, lost all contact in 1975 when we moved away from Eldoraigne?
@ Sharks_forever:
Nope, just a remark as the tables in wordpress do tend to mess-up if you do editing. I normally would fix it myself but on previous occation I mess-up some of the the editing done by GBS.
@ grootblousmile:
I was was in the same boat in 74. Followed that tour with a passion close to obsession and was devestated every time we lost. The pictures in the slide show are stuff that I sampled in those years.
That day Ian Gourley cost the Quagga barbarians the match I would have punched himself if I was close enough.
What happened to your ‘plakboeke’? I still got mine. They are essentially the reason why I strated to write these history articles.
What is really interesting for me was the attendance figures at the non-test matches.
Maybe too much televised Rugby really does contribute to lower match attendances!
In those days I was content to just watch David Duckham racing down the touchline for Coventry at Coundon Road.
Coventry were one of the few English clubs who could match the Taffy Bastids in those days.
Days of no organised league tables, just “un-official” merit tales that compared performances.
But it’s amazing that the schools that developed international players in England in those days still do so today, as is to a large extent still the case in SA.
grootblousmile wrote:
My first big match was in 1974 or 1975 Western Transvaal against Western Province at Olienpark. That same year I saw Peter Kirsten playing for WP against Transvaal at Ellispark. It was the game Kirsten got injured and after which he stopped playing rugby to focus on cricket. He was brilliant that day untill the injury.
Kirsten was also the reason -I believe- why the quaggas did so well against the Lions in 1974. Only 19 years old but handled that game like a general. Gavin Cowley played inside center and he and Kirtsen together got the Quaggas moving.
7 @ McLook:
Still got some of my stuff, like the Golden Flying Springbok pendant which Piet Greyling gave me when I won the race between the kids at his son’s birthday party.
But sadly between losing a mother 10 years ago and her husband hording her stuff and keeping it from us kids (of which there was some of our stuff), moving between Varsity, to the different houses in my married life… and losing some other stuff in a 1st Divorce in 1999, I don’t have it all anymore.
Sad really, because like you say, I was a rugby freak and yes, it was an obsession… and of course, like you, I still am a freegin rugby freak.
Seems we are / were very similar in the way we perceived rugby and the lasting passion it has instilled in us.
Scrumdown wrote:
Yes its much more convienent watching at home. Another reason for lower attendance is the shear volume of rugby that one see due to telivision. Its S15, 6 nations, tri-nations, currie cup and so forth. It does get a bit much afetr awhile. Those years no TV and international rugby was scares. Previous test in SA was in 1972. People were hungry for international rugby.
10 @ McLook:
Do you remember, think it was in the late 60’s or early 70’s when a portion of the Main Grand Stand at Loftus collapsed and some people were injured and killed?
Well my father was one of the lucky ones in the middle of the collapsed lot who came out unscathed.
My father was a Loftus regular and faithful Blue Bulls supporter (notwithstanding the fact that he had previously played for Vrystaat at hooker himself), so of course by the time 1974 came, I was already a seasoned Loftus groupie and Bloubul bedonnerd… but that 1974 Loftus Test was my 1st Test…
We sat somewhat behind the posts – actually more towards the back corner where the main stand and the back stand meets, in the South-Western Stand at Loftus (The stand closest to the B and C field as it is now), about a third of the way up …..
That day is imprinted on my mind… that day was one of those memorable ones… a special one.
@ grootblousmile@11:
Yip know about the moving and going to varsity and parents moving house and passing on. I had to go and rescue my stuff a couple of times when my parents moved house. Moving to New Zealand with limit amount of space I had to get rid of some clothes and camping gear to make place for my collection stuff. Wife and kids still think I am a bit obsessed with rugby. That day the Boks won the first time in Dunedin (Rickey Januarie scoring that intercept try) I almost lost it during the last view minutes and after the final whistle went. My kids had difficulty to understand why I was so tense in the last minutes shouting at the team unable to sit still and found it very funny when they saw I had to wipe some tears out my eyes after the final whistle went.
@ grootblousmile@13:
I vaguely remember that main stand collapse. Those days the open stands where ‘hoenderstalasies’ and it was blady cold up at the top.
Yes I can think that second test in 1974 left a lasting impression. Also I can understang your blue bull passion. It would be impossible to live in Pretoria attend blue bull matches at Loftus and not to become a blue bull groupie.
Folks, you want to know who Rugby-Talk is, what drives our passion, what drives guys like McLook and me to do what we do for rugby… all you have to do is read this Article and it’s comments.
You’ll know what we are and who we are… and you might have a very similar story.
Come on, relate your passion, tell us what started it all in your rugby life!
I know one old geyser who has volumes he can talk about…. our own sand sultan, Pietman, the walking dictionary, our living encyclopedia….
Wikipedia se moer, ons het Pietmanpedia…. hehehe
Kyk, Pietman is mos al taamlik bejaard, jy sien…. toe hy jonk en jukkerig was, was daar noggie kondome nie, hulle het daai gebreide baba-booties gebruik, wat hulle omgedop en met lapverf geseël het tussen die breiwol gaatjies… en dan het hulle maar potluck se kanse gevat as die jeukkery te veel geword het…. hehehe
I use to go to this site love it.
http://springbokrugby.webs.com/
Notice its McLook site. Nice
In 2009 het ek in Engeland gebly en hulle het ‘n program oor die toer uitgesaai. Natuurlik is daar gesinspeel dat hulle die “meesterras” (Afrikaners) ‘n les geleer het in SA, wat my maar ‘n wrang smaak gelaat het.
Maar dit was tog interesant om te luister na Hannes Marais en Morne Du Plessis. En te sien hoe SA was in 1974.
Dink julle die B&I Lions toere is die moeite werd? Ek dink hulle het maar ‘n baie swak sportmanskap. Ek was woedend (om dit baie, baie lig te stel) toe ek ‘n program kyk oor die 2009 B&I Lions. Hulle was baie neerhalend oor SA en ek kry die gevoel hulle haat ons (of baie naby aan dit).
John Smit het ook in sy boek geskryf hy het nie goeie herrininge oor die toer nie.
Mclook – Btw baie goeie artikel, soos gewoonlik!
Gaan jy een doen oor die 1980 toer?
@ McLook:
Great stuff McLook!
Yip, Peter Kirsten was the man indeed……until Jan Ellis (playing for Tvl after moving down from SWA) busted his kneecap with a deliberate kick. (Jan was too ‘kuk bang’ to handle the Lions earlier that year, so he took it out on young Kirsten. (He was a vuilgat, old Jan, witnessed it myself a couple of times when we played his club Union in Windhoek.)
I still have the signatures of that Lions’ team, got it while I was bedridden next to Alan Old in Leeuwendal Clinic, Tamboerskloof in Cape Town (we operated on by the same surgeon).
I had the pleasure of spending some great times with most of the team afterwards (trout fishing in Du Toitskloof and hunting in the N.Cape, etc…..and drinking lots of Lion Lager, naturally!
@ grootblousmile:
Thx for the compliment bruvva! But I have lost my touch a bit lately,do have not the same interest in the ‘soft’ modern professional game as I had before.
Politics (yes, politics!) and poor selections messed up the Springboks in 1974.
After Tommy Bedford had showed the selectors the middle finger, no ‘British Last Outposter’ were considered by Johan Claassen and the other ‘Doppers’ on the selection committee, e.g.,the best halback pairing in SA at that time was Tim Cocks/Poenie Holm of Natal. Instead we had Dawie Snyman/Roy McCullum, Jackie Snyman/Gerrie Sonnekus (the worst ever, until they were surpassed by Boeta Wessels/Norman Jordaan 20 years later), Gerald Bosch/ Paul Bayvel and Jackie Snyman/Paul Bayvel. A different combination for every test…..
Not to mention the centres and loosies!
Peter Whipp/Johan Oosthuizen/Jackie Snyman/Johan Schlebusch/Peter Cronje,……
Morne du Plessis/Dugald McDonald/Kleintjie Grobler/Klippies Kritzinger…..taking turns at number 8.
The 1974 Lions were masters at psycological warfare and manipulating the press. They picked the Springbok team they wanted to play against, talking up players like Johan de Bruyn, Andre Bestbier,Jan Schlebusch as the ‘best we have seen on tour so far’ They were shit scared of John Williams, that I know, but in the papers they called him the ‘Jolly Jumper’ and expressed their relief that they weren’t up against the likes of Moaner and Kevin de Klerk instead (two locks they didn’t fear at all! (Gordon Brown took Moaner out one shot in PE, broken ribcage after that infamous ’99 call’)
And so on…..
here is one of the funniest youtube clips ever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z08k2DpYKJg
@ Boerewors@18:
Ian McGeechan is the reason why the 2009 tour was so umpleasant for the SA players and public, in my opinion. There is so YouTube material available of his team talk before and during that tour. His main theme was that we are entering a country with a population and players that dislike us to the core, who don’t respect what we are and what we stand for. This people take extreme pleasure in beating us and will came with us with vengeance.
This created a animosity on and off the field.
@ Boerewors@19:
Die lions toere wek gewelding belangstelling in al die rugbysplenede lande. Hulle toer vasnjaar na Australia en die Nieu Seeland publiek kan nie wag dat die toer begin nie. Die 1980, 1997 en 2009 toewre na SA was met groot belangstelling gevolg in SA en Australia.
Die Pommies, Iere en Skotte asook Wallisers wat ek hier in Nieu-Seeland geleer ken het volg die Leeu toere noukeurig en put groot vreugde uit oorwinnings teen NZ, SA en Aus. Waarskynlik omrede hulle andersins nooit eintlik wen teen die drie grotes van wereldrugby.
@ Boerewors@20:
Ja ek is reeds besig met die 1980 toer en beplan een oor die 1955 toer ook. Ek het baie inligting oor beide.
@ Pietman@23:
Yes Ian Kirkpatrick admitted some years later that the selection committee lost the plot in 1974. The Lions remarks about players got the them and did influence selections and they become so desperate that they started picking players who had decent game against the lions in the saturdays before the test matches. Injuries did howvere also forced their hand. Ian McCallum, Bayvel and Peter Whipp injured in second test; Roy McCallum and Johan Oosthuisen got injured in the first test and was out for the series.
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