1910 British Lions tour to South Africa

1910 British Lions Tour to South Africa
Date	11 June  – 6 September
Coach(es)	Walter E. Rees William Cail
Tour captain(s)	Tommy Smyth
Test series winners	South Africa (2–1)
Top test point scorer(s)	Jack Spoors (9)
← New Zealand and Australia 1908 Argentina 1910 →

The 1910 British Isles team

The 1910 British Isles tour to South Africa was the eighth tour by a British Isles rugby union team and the fourth to South Africa. It is retrospectively classed as one of the British Lions tours, as the Lions naming convention was not adopted until 1950. As well as South Africa, the tour included a game in Bulawayo in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

Led by Ireland's Tommy Smyth and managed by Walter E. Rees and W Cail the tour took in 24 matches. Of the 24 games, 21 were against club or invitational teams and three were test matches against the South African national team. The British Isles team lost two and won one test match against the Springboks.

Seven players from Newport RFC were selected for the tour which remains as the record for players selected from one club for a British Lions Tour.

Touring party

• Managers: Walter E Rees and William Cail

Name	Position	Club	Country	First Test	Second Test	Third Test
Stanley Williams	Full Back	Newport	England	Played	Played	Played
Mel Baker	Three-Quarter	Newport	Wales			Played
Reg Plummer	Three-Quarter	Newport	Wales
Maurice Edward Neale	Three-Quarter	Bristol	England	Played	Played	Played
Alexander Foster	Three-Quarter	City of Derry	Ireland	Played	Played
C.G. Timms	Three-Quarter	Edinburgh University	Scotland[1]
Jack Jones	Three-Quarter	Newport	Wales	Played	Played	Played
Jack Spoors	Three-Quarter	Bristol	England	Played	Played	Played
Kenneth Berridge Wood	Three-Quarter	Leicester	England	Played		Played
Noel Forbes Humphreys	Half back	Tynedale	Walesuncapped
Arthur Norman McClinton	Half back	North of Ireland	Ireland
G.A.M. Isherwood	Half back	Cheshire and Sale	England uncapped	Played	Played	Played
Eric Milroy	Half back	Watsonians	Scotland
Tommy Smyth(tour captain)	Forward	Newport	Ireland		Played	Played
William Tyrrell	Forward	Queen's University	Ireland
Dyne Fenton Smith	Forward	Richmond	England	Played	Played	Played
Phil Waller	Forward	Newport	Wales	Played	Played	Played
James Reid-Kerr	Forward	Greenock Wanderers	Scotland
R.C. Stevenson	Forward	St Andrews University RFC	Scotland	Played	Played	Played
L.M. Speirs	Forward	Watsonians	Scotland
E. O'D Crean	Forward	Liverpool	Englanduncapped
Harry Jarman	Forward	Newport	Wales	Played	Played	Played
O.J.S. Piper	Forward	Cork Constitution	Ireland	Played
William Albert Robertson	Forward	Edinburgh University	Scotland
Charles Pillman	Forward	Blackheath	England		Played	Played
W.J. Ashby	Forward	Queen's College	Ireland
F.G. Handford	Forward	Kersal	England	Played	Played	Played
Tom Richards	Forward	Bristol	Australia	Played	Played
Jim Webb	Forward	Abertillery	Wales	Played	Played	Played

Results

	Date	Opponent	Location	Result	Score
Match 1	11 June	South Western Districts	Mossel Bay	Won	14–4
Match 2	15 June	Western Province (County)	Cape Town	Won	11–3
Match 3	18 June	Western Province (College)	Cape Town	Won	9–3
Match 4	22 June	Western Province (Town)	Cape Town	Drew	11–11
Match 5	25 June	Western Province	Cape Town	Won	5–3
Match 6	29 June	Griqualand West	Kimberley	Lost	0–8
Match 7	2 July	Transvaal	Johannesburg	Lost	8–27
Match 8	5 July	Pretoria	Pretoria	Won	17–0
Match 9	7 July	Transvaal (County)	Johannesburg	Won	45–4
Match 10	9 July	Transvaal	Johannesburg	Lost	6–13
Match 11	13 July	Natal	Pietermaritzburg	Won	18–16
Match 12	16 July	Natal	Durban	Won	19–13
Match 13	20 July	Orange River County	Bloemfontein	Won	12–9
Match 14	23 July	Griqualand West	Kimberley	Lost	3–9
Match 15	27 July	Cape Colony	Kimberley	Lost	0–19
Match 16	30 July	Rhodesia	Bulawayo	Won	24–11
Match 17	6 August	South Africa	Wanderers Ground, Johannesburg	Lost	10–14
Match 18	10 August	North Eastern Districts	Burgersdorp	Drew	8–8
Match 19	13 August	Border	East London	Won	30–10
Match 20	17 August	Border	King Williams Town	Drew	13–13
Match 21	20 August	Eastern Province	Port Elizabeth	Won	14–6
Match 22	27 August	South Africa	Crusaders Ground, Port Elizabeth	Won	8–3
Match 23	3 September	South Africa	Newlands, Cape Town	Lost	5–21
Match 24	6 September	Western Province	Cape Town	Lost	0–8

References

1. Note – Timms was never capped for Scotland

• Rugby Football History.com
• Early Lions Squads