1938 British Lions tour to South Africa

The 1938 British Isles tour to South Africa was the fourteenth tour by a British Isles team and the sixth to South Africa. The tour is retrospectively classed as one of the British Lions tours, as the Lions naming convention was not adopted until 1950.

The tour party was led by Ireland's Sam Walker and managed by Col. Hartley, and took in 24 matches. Of the 24 games, 19 were against club or invitational teams, three were test matches against the South African national team and the other two games were outside South Africa against Rhodesia. The British Isles lost two and won one of the test matches, and in the non-test games lost five and won sixteen.

Like many of the early Lions parties, the tour did not represent the best of British and Irish rugby talent. Obvious omissions included Wilf Wooller and Cliff Jones.

Touring party

 * Manager: Col. Bernard Charles Hartley

Full Backs

 * Vivian Jenkins (London Welsh)
 * Charles Frederick Grieve (Oxford University and )

Three-Quarters

 * Jim Unwin (Rosslyn Park)
 * Bill Clement (Llanelli)
 * Elvet Jones (Llanelli)
 * Vesey Boyle (Dublin University)
 * Roy Leyland (Waterloo)
 * D.J. Macrae (St. Andrew's University)
 * Harry McKibbin (Queen's University, Belfast)
 * Basil Ellard Nicholson (Old Whitgiftians)

Half backs

 * Frank Jeffrey "Jeff" Reynolds (Old Cranleighans)
 * George Cromey (Queen's University, Belfast)
 * James "Jimmy" Leonard Giles (Coventry)
 * Haydn Tanner (Swansea)
 * George J Morgan (Clontarf)

Forwards

 * Sam Walker (Instonians) (captain)
 * Eddie Morgan (Swansea)
 * William Gordon Howard (Old Birkonians)
 * William 'Bunner' Travers (Newport)
 * Bob Graves (Wanderers)
 * Paddy Mayne (Queen's University)
 * Gerald "Beef" Thomas Dancer (Bedford)
 * S.R. Couchman (Old Cranleighans)
 * A.G. Purchas (Coventry)
 * J.A. Waters (Selkirk)
 * P.L. Duff (Glasgow Academicals)
 * Ivor Williams (Cardiff)
 * Russell Taylor (Cross Keys)
 * Robert Alexander (North of Ireland)

Match summary
Complete list of matches played by the British Isles in South Africa:

Test matches



First Test
South Africa: G.H Brand, F.G Turner, G.P Lochner, P de Wet, D.O Williams, T.A Harris, D.H Craven (Captain), S.C Louw, J.W Lotz, M.M Louw, B.A du Toit, W.F Bergh, A.R Sherriff, W.E Bastard, L.C Strachan British Isles: V..G.J Jenkins, E.J Unwin, D.J Macrae, H.R McKibbon, E.L Jones, F.J Reynolds, J.L Giles, M.E Morgan, C.R.A Graves, G.T Dancer, S Walker (Captain), R.B Mayne, R. Alexander, W.G Howard, A.R