The 1997 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa was the first after the end of apartheid in that country, and the first professional tour. South Africa were world champions, having won the World Cup, but were in decline at the time. Nevertheless the Lions were underdogs, but convincingly won the first test 25-16 thanks to Matt Dawson's try. Despite scoring three tries in the second test, the Springboks suffered from some woeful goal kicking and failed to land any goals, whilst for the Lions Neil Jenkins scored 5 penalties and Jerry Guscott dropped a goal to win the match 18-15 and take the series. The third test proved a match too far for the squad and they lost 35-16.

The Lions squad was captained by Martin Johnson, managed by Fran Cotton, and coached by Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer.

Lions Squad

The original 35 man squad was:

• Captain and second row
• Martin Johnson (Leicester and England)
• Full backs
• Neil Jenkins (Pontypridd and Wales)
• Tim Stimpson (Newcastle and England)
• Wingers
• Nick Beal (Northampton and England)
• John Bentley (Newcastle and England)
• Ieuan Evans (Llanelli and Wales)
• Tony Underwood (Newcastle and England)
• Centres
• Allan Bateman (Richmond and Wales)
• Scott Gibbs (Swansea and Wales)
• Will Greenwood (Leicester)
• Jeremy Guscott (Bath and England)
• Alan Tait (Newcastle and Scotland)
• Fly-halves
• Paul Grayson (Northampton and England)
• Gregor Townsend (Northampton and Scotland)
• Scrum-halves
• Matt Dawson (Northampton and England)
• Austin Healey (Leicester and England)
• Rob Howley (Cardiff and Wales)
• Props
• Paul Wallace (Munster and Ireland)
• Jason Leonard (Harlequins and England)
• Graham Rowntree (Leicester and England)
• Tom Smith (Watsonians and Scotland)
• Dai Young (Cardiff and Wales)
• Hookers
• Mark Regan (Bristol and England)
• Barry Williams (Neath and Wales)
• Keith Wood (Harlequins and Ireland)
• Second Row
• Jeremy Davidson (London Irish and Ireland)
• Simon Shaw (Bristol and England)
• Doddie Weir (Newcastle and Scotland)
• Back Row
• Neil Back (Leicester and England)
• Lawrence Dallaglio (Wasps and England)
• Richard Hill (Saracens and England)
• Eric Miller (Leicester and Ireland)
• Scott Quinnell (Richmond and Wales)
• Tim Rodber (Northampton & England)
• Rob Wainwright (Watsonians and Scotland)

Matches

• May 24 Eastern Province XV 11 British Lions 39 (Port Elizabeth)
• May 28 Border 14 Lions 18 (East London)
• May 31 Western Province 21 British Lions 38 (Cape Town)
• June 4 Mpumalanga 14 Lions 64 (Witbank)
• June 7 Northern Transvaal 35 Lions 30 (Pretoria)
• June 11 Gauteng Lions 14 Lions 20 (Johannesburg)
• June 14 Natal 12 Lions 42 (Durban)
• June 17 Emerging Springboks 22 Lions 51 (Wellington)

First Test

• June 21 1st TEST: South Africa 16 - Lions 25 (Cape Town)

South Africa	16	—	25	British Lions
Du Randt Bennett		tries	Dawson Tait
-		Conversions	-
Lubbe Honiball		Penalties	Jenkins (5)
-		Drop goals	-

• Planet-Rugby stats

South Africa: 15. Joubert 14. Small 13. Mulder 12. Lubbe 11. Snyman 10. Honiball 9. van der Westhuizen 1 du Randt 2 Drotske 3 Garvey 4 Andrews 5 Strydom 6 Kruger 7 Venter 8 Teichmann (capt). Replacements: Bennett (Unused: Dalton, Otto, Swanepoel, Theron, Wessels)

British Lions. 15 Jenkins; 14. Evans 13. Guscott, 12 Gibbs, 11. Tait 10. Townsend, 9 Dawson. 1. Smith, 2 Wood 3. Wallace, 4. Johnson (capt), 5. Davidson; 6. Dallaglio, 7. Hill, 8. Rodber

Referee: Colin Hawke (New Zealand)

• June 24 Free State 30 Lions 52 Bloemfontein

Second Test

• June 28 2nd TEST: South Africa 15 - Lions 18 (Durban)

South Africa	15	—	18	British Lions
van der Westhuizen Montgomery Joubert		tries	-
-		Conversions	-
-		Penalties	Jenkins (5)
-		Drop goals	Guscott

• Planet-Rugby stats
• July 1 N Free State 39 British Lions 67 (Welkom)

3rd Test

July 5 3rd TEST: South Africa 35 - Lions 16 (Johannesburg)

South Africa	35	—	16	British Lions
van der Westhuizen Montgomery Roussouw Snyman		tries	Dawson
De Beer (2) Honiball		Conversions	Jenkins
De Beer (3)		Penalties	Jenkins (3)
-		Drop goals	-

British Lions: 15 Jenkins; 14 Bentley, 13 Gibbs, 12 Guscott, 11Underwood; 10. Catt, 9. Dawson (Northampton); 1 Smith, 2 Regan, 3 Wallace 4 Johnson (capt), 5 Davidson, 6 Dallaglio, 7 Back, 8 Rodber

Referee: Colin Hawke (New Zealand)