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IT’S time to dip back into the 1974 Lions tour again and 50 years ago today exactly – July 14 – a much agitated manager of the Marine Hotel in what used to be called Port Elizabeth was looking for Lions manager Alun Thomas to demand both an explanation and reparation. Why had all the fire hoses in his five star establishment been let off during the night and why were the swish carpets on a number of floors waterlogged and ruined?
It was a fair enough question and without being facetious the answer is that the Lions had just made history. The previous day the tourists had beaten a pumped South Africa 26-9 just down the road at Boet Erasmus to take the series 3-0 and had felt the urgent need to make some noise and let off some steam. As you do when you have scaled rugby‘s Everest.
Much to his frustration nobody could be found although he was confident suitable compensation would be forthcoming before the sun set. Pretty much the entire tour party had just left for a day of enthusiastic R & R at the renowned Sardinia Bay – Sards to the locals – which is now a nature reserve as well as a sun-drenched beach on the Indian Ocean.
You are probably familiar with the image of a smiling Willie John McBride riding an old bicycle along the beach that brisk winter’s morning like an extra from some avant garde French film. It’s all slightly surreal but given South Africa’s dominance for most of the 20th century the events of the previous ten weeks or so had been borderline surreal. Surely at some stage the Boks would bite back and bring the Lions’ triumphant march round South Africa to a juddering halt.
That was the expectation of many just 24 hours earlier when the two sides had run out for the series decider and although retrospectively it all seems a walk in the park. At the time nerves and tension abounded.
Firstly, the physical demands of a long tour were beginning to kick in. Two weeks earlier a flu bug had ripped through the tour party and many had to rise from their sick bed to play the Free State in the closest game of the tour, an 11-9 win with JJ Williams grabbing a late winner. The lingering effects of the virus were still being felt and even those not affected had been forced to play extra games.
And injuries were beginning to kick in too. Gareth Edwards couldn’t rest his dodgy hammies because John Moloney was still out of the reckoning with his ripped hamstring, Alan Old was out of the tour with his knee injury and Phil Bennett, who had sustained knee and foot injuries while scoring that sumptuous try in the second Test, was soldiering on.
Surprisingly – by today’s standards anyway – both Bennett and Edwards started against the South Africa Leopards four days before the tour decider in Port Elizabeth. Gordon Brown was struggling with various ailments including a bruised lower back from a kick so Willie John also had to play in that midweek fixture to ensure Broon of Troon could recover while of the Test team Ian McGeechan and Andy Irvine also doubled up. A sixth Test starter Roger Uttley had to go on for lock Chris Ralston who suffered a nasty cut leg.
The contingency plan at scrum-half, in extremis, was to train up Tony Neary and Mike Gibson to at least provide cover off the bench for Edwards in the Test while as a kicking back up for the battered Bennett, Irvine had replaced Billy Steele on the wing.
Then there was the mental or psychological challenge. Having interviewed or spoken to the vast majority of the squad over the years I am far from convinced that the mythical 99 call was actually a “thing” but what was real was the unspoken predetermined decision that they would meet fire with fire on tour instantaneously. They would countenance no physical intimidation or violence without retaliation. As Roger Uttley phrased it: “If something came our way, it would go back with nobs on!”
This they had done on a number of occasions and they knew for certain what was coming their way in the third Test with South Africa in do or die mode. According to Fran Cotton the first 20 minutes were the most physical rugby he ever encountered and that’s before the violence started!
The Boks’ modus operandi revolved around “getting” Edwards and the first massive punch up started when Bobby Windsor copped a clip that was intended for the Welsh nine. General mayhem ensued. Brown came swinging in like Mike Tyson and landed a couple of haymakers, one of which famously dislodged Johan De Bruyn’s glass eye. Brown himself was downed though by a textbook right hook from Klippies Krtizinger.
It was a game that saw JPR Williams run 50 yards to wade into South Africa’s giant lock and hard-man Moaner van Heerden after another flare up. When he landed his blow the Wales full-back stood there, fists clenched nostrils flaring braced for the next Bok wanting to take him on. There were no takers.
Having sorted that out, the Lions went down the tunnel 7-3 up after just one serious excursion into Boks territory in the first half courtesy of a try from the line-out from Brown who was having quite a day out. The other points came with a 63-yard penalty from Irvine. After the break JJ Williams grabbed a second successive brace and never looked quicker or more dangerous and Bennett tormented the Boks with two dropped goals. It was all over.
But could they finish the Tour undefeated? There were two weeks and four matches to go but they were beginning to run on empty and the job was surely done. Or was it? Could they post that perfect record and what would be their reception back home where some had booed and jeered them when they had departed back in May. What would be the fallout of the Tour and what was the Lions legacy? We will return to chew the cud one final time.
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