With the British and Irish Lions kicking off their tour against the Royal XV on Saturday, iafrica.com’s Rob Peters looks at some Lions trivia South Africans would rather forget…

Whitewash in 1891

Sure, most of us know nothing about the Lions’ first visit to our shores, and that’s probably a good thing. The tourists played 20 matches and won 20 matches. Worse though was the fact that in all of these matches all South Africa could muster was a single point… that’s right, just one.

1974

While the ‘99’ Call was undoubtedly controversial and did not necessarily paint the tourists (or the Boks) in the best light, the Lions were rampant on the 1974 tour — winning all, but one of their games (a 13-13 draw in the final Test in Johannesburg). We can argue all year about who instigated the violence, but unfortunately for South African fans, there was only one team doing the business where it ultimately counted — on the scoreboard.

‘99’ Call

Perhaps the most notorious Lions moment in history was the ‘99’ Call attributed to captain Willie-John McBride. The call (named after the emergency number in Great Britain) was essentially a call to arms. Knowing the Springboks’ penchant for physicality, the Lions decided to make their mark first and if they felt a Bok player had been guilty of foul play, the entire team was expected to join the brawl — cue sucker-punches, flying windmill combos and all-out mayhem! Things really came to a head at the battle of Boet Erasmus Stadium with Lions fullback JPR Williams central to the carnage – at one point running 20 metres to belt Bok enforcer, ‘Moaner’ van Heerden.

And because we know visuals are far more fulfilling, take a gander at the video below.

Wanted: Goal-kicker

It had been 17 years since the Lions had toured South Africa, and SA fans would be forgiven is they chose to forget the 1997 series. The Lions arrived as underdogs in ’97 and, without big-name players and judged on Six Nations form, Martin Johnson and his men were expected to be dispatched easily by the Springboks. So when the Boks went down 25-16 in the first Test at Newlands, the fans were not happy…

The second Test was tighter, but the Lions triumphed 18-15, despite the South Africans out-scoring the tourists three tries to one. It was a hellishly-long afternoon for Bok supporters as they watched kick after kick at goal fail to find its mark. Percy Montgomery took the bulk of the blame, but let us not forget that both Andre Joubert and Henri Honiball failed at the task as well.

Guscott drops the Boks

As bad as the lack of a goal-kicker was in Durban, Lions centre Jeremy Guscott managed to make it worse when he slotted a match — and series — winning drop-goal. Memories of Guscott gleefully informing the South African public that two wins in a three-match series is irreversible are best forgotten. The former England star will be on hand as a pundit this year and hopefully will not have reason to celebrate when the second Test wraps up in Pretoria this time around.

  • Any other moments we should try and forget? Comments below!


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