The Lions History - Part 4

Professional Lions

And so to the 1997 tour to South Africa - the first professional Lions.

The 2-1 series win win will go down as one of the greatest tactical victories of all time. Planned to the minutest detail like a military campaign, coach Ian McGeechan was without question the most important man on this tour and with expert specialist help from the likes of forwards coach Jim Telfer, kicking guru Dave Alred and technical analyst Andy Keast, plotted the downfall of the Springboks. Taking the strain as the tour figurehead was manager Fran Cotton, a man who knew what it takes to win a series on South African soil and commanded the respect of all his charges.

Six former Rugby League players were selected in the squad and their steely professionalism set the tone for the whole tour with mental and physical discipline to the fore. McGeechan knew that the threat of the Lions would be vastly under-rated by both the Springboks and the South African public and planned accordingly, selecting players who would "never be troubled by thoughts of failure".

With Leicester and England second row Martin Johnson appointed as captain by virtue of the fact that he was a guaranteed selection for the Test team, the stage was set for a historic series. The tour began on a positive note with a 39-11 victory over Eastern Province in Port Elizabeth and 18-14 victory over Border in East London in dreadful conditions.

Next up were Western Province in Cape Town and while the Lions pack looked a touch frail in the scrummage, they had the all-round game to dispose of their opponents 38-21. The Lions were beginning to take shape, the only blemish on their record in the non-Test matches was a 30-35 reversal at the hands of Northern Transvaal.

With the hor d'oeuvres out of the way it was time for the main course and what a treat the First Test in Cape Town turned out to be.

Outweighed by their opposition, the Lions pack put in a remarkable performance to keep their team on the front foot. The boot of fullback Neil Jenkins kept the Lions in the match, before the Springboks were put to the sword by some fine attacking play in the final quarter of the match, most memorably scrum-half Matt Dawson's solo try when he flummoxed the South African back row with an outrageous dummy to breach the line. The Lions then dug deep to enable wing Alan Tait to touch down the match winner in the dying seconds of the match and seal the match 25-16.

The Lions knew they would face a massive backlash in King's Park, Durban a week later for the Second Test - and so it proved in one of the most dramatic Tests of all time, a full-blooded encounter where no quarter was asked or given. Playing on the back foot for virtually all of the match, the Lions' defensive efforts - marshalled by centre Scott Gibbs and No.8 Tim Rodber - was nothing short of heroic.

After 55 minutes, the Lions were 9-15 down, the Springboks had scored two tries and looked for all the world as if they were going to break away. But as the minutes of the game ticked away, two penalties were awarded to the Lions, and Neil Jenkins put them first to within three points of the leaders and then all square at 15-15.

With just three minutes left on the clock, the Lions managed to launch a rare assault on Springbok territory. The ball was spun out of a ruck to England centre Jeremy Guscott and Guscott dropped a goal. The Lions were ahead and then had an agonising three minutes to defend their lead before the final whistle.

Consistenly repelling any number of South African attacks, the Lions held on for an 18-15 victory, despite conceding three tries to none to clinch the series.

Some measure of Springbok pride was recouped the following week in Johnannesburg for the Third Test with the Lions convincingly beaten by the revitalised South Africans. Conceding 13 points in the first 15 minutes, the Lions went down by 16-35 but this could not take the gloss off of the achievement of a series win.

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