The British and Irish Lions are a rugby union team that consists of international players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The concept behind this unique rugby team is to take the best players from the Northern Hemisphere and tour the big three in the South; Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand.
Given the busy schedules of players juggling between club and country commitments, the British and Irish Lions tour happens every 4 years, alternating between the big three. This means that each of the big three welcomes the North’s best every 12 years, as South Africa will in 2021.
In the year 1997, South Africa played host to the Lions for the first time since the ground shattering World Cup victory two years prior. The tour, however, does not only take an international stance (Springboks vs The B&I Lions) but also domestically. The tourists play ‘warm-up’ games against all major domestic teams. This allows the Lions to gel together through match practice but also gives local players and fans alike something to shout about.
Although the tour itself is long there have been cases where the Lions fail to play cohesive rugby due to the conflicting styles within their respective nations. The tour of 1997 began with an absolute bang. The Lions won 7 of 8 ‘warm-up’ games falling short to Northern Transvaal 30-35 in their sole loss.
Regardless of the loss, it left what seemed to be a very balanced and confident Lions side ready to face the Springboks. It is often in sport that, ‘Preparation is key’ and this was evident in a comfortable 25-16 over the Springboks in Newlands, Cape Town.
Following the loss, the Springboks made multiple changes but this proved in vain as the Lions held on to win 18-15 in King’s Park, Durban. Despite the Springbok loss, it was a colossal occasion for a young Percy Montgomery who earned his first cap for South Africa.
The Springboks fought back in the last test-winning 35-16 but still lost the three-match series 2-1. On a whole, from a Springbok perspective, the incoming tour of the Lions was poor, no question about it. However, the blooding of Percy Montgomery in the hallowed Green and Gold would prove to be crucial for the future of the Springboks at the time.
Montgomery proved to be a mainstay in the national set up in which he earned a total of 102 caps, becoming the first South African to do so. Within the 102 appearances, Montgomery won the Tri Nations in both 1998 and 2004 as well as the Rugby World Cup in 2007 where he kicked the Springboks to a victory in the final. Montgomery also holds the all-time points scoring record of 893 points with the nearest current Springbok, Handre Pollard, on 457.
The British and Irish Lions tours are always deemed special in the eyes of rugby fans worldwide but in 1997 it was the beginning of a record-breaking career which has proved to be the ultimate winner.
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