The 1974 Lions tour of South Africa, often declared the greatest tour ever in Rugby Union, was dogged by controversy. Several players made themselves unavailable in protest against apartheid, but their captain, Willie John McBride, declared to his players that "it has nothing to do with politics, and if anybody has any doubt in this room, the door is open, please leave now". What followed was the first series win since 1896. This fascinating book devotes a chapter to each of the 13 series since the first pioneering tour of 1891, which itself was inspired by a recent cricket tour and driven by the need to consolidate relations in a country with which it had recently been at war. That team was very much a team of gentlemen who could afford the trip, and a few years later the northern branch would create Rugby League for players who needed to be compensated for lost income. Travelling round the country was gruelling, in one case involving a horse-drawn coach which lost a wheel, and some pitches were dangerously hard. In the Transvaal the tourists outweighed the "Colonials" by a full stone per player. The visitors took the 1896 series for the last time until 1974, although the 1955 tour ended in a draw. In 1968 the visitors were highly successful in the provincial matches, winning 15 out of 16 under their captain Tom Kiernan, but they failed to clinch the Test series. This changed in 1974, when McBride, as he describes in a Foreword to the book, decided that his team would display equal violence against the Springboks, instituting the infamous "99" call which was a signal for rough tactics. 75,000 spectators at Ellis Park witnessed the Springboks' first and only try against the visitors, followed by an electrifying final few minutes in which a try was disallowed in favour of a 5-yard scrum. A feature box on McBride's career is one of several on notable players, as well as information about the Boer War and apartheid. 288pp, colour photos, team lists.
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