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1938 British Lions tour to South Africa
Date	11 June – 21 September
Coach(es)	Major B.C. Hartley
Tour captain(s)	Sam Walker
Test series winners	South Africa (2–1)
Top test point scorer(s)	Vivian Jenkins (9)
← Argentina 1936 New Zealand and Australia 1950 →

1938 British Lions tour to South Africa
Summary	P W D L
Total	24 17 00 07
Test match	03 01 00 02
Opponent	P W D L
South Africa	3 1 0 2

The 1938 British Isles tour to South Africa was the fourteenth tour by a British Isles team and the sixth to South Africa. The tour is retrospectively classed as one of the British Lions tours, as the Lions naming convention was not adopted until 1950.

The tour party was led by Ireland's Sam Walker and managed by Col. Hartley, and took in 24 matches. Of the 24 games, 19 were against club or invitational teams, three were test matches against the South African national team and the other two games were outside South Africa against Rhodesia. The British Isles lost two and won one of the test matches, and in the non-test games lost five and won sixteen.

Like many of the early Lions parties, the tour did not represent the best of British and Irish rugby talent. Obvious omissions included Wilf Wooller and Cliff Jones.

Touring party

• Manager: Col. Bernard Charles Hartley

Match summary

Complete list of matches played by the British Isles in South Africa:

  Test matches

#	Date	Rival	City	Venue	Result	Score
1	11 Jun	Border Bulldogs	East London		Won	11–8
2	15 Jun	Griqualand West	Kimberley		Won	22–9
3	18 Jun	Western Province	Cape Town	Newlands	Lost	8–11
4	22 Jun	South Western Districts	Oudtshoorn	Recreation Ground	Won	19–10
5	25 Jun	Western Province	Cape Town	Newlands	Lost	11–21
6	29 Jun	Transvaal	Potchefstroom	Olën Park	Won	26–9
7	2 Jul	Orange Free State	Bloemfontein		Won	21–6
8	6 Jul	Orange Free State Country	Kroonstad	Loubser Park	Won	18–3
9	9 Jul	Transvaal	Johannesburg	Ellis Park	Lost	9–16
10	13 Jul	Northern Transvaal	Pretoria	Caledonian Ground	Won	20–12
11	16 Jul	Cape Province	Kimberley		Won	10–3
12	20 Jul	Rhodesia	Salisbury		Won	25–11
13	23 Jul	Rhodesia	Bulawayo		Won	45–11
14	30 Jul	Transvaal	Johannesburg	Ellis Park	Won	17–9
15	6 Aug	South Africa	Johannesburg	Ellis Park	Lost	12–26
16	13 Aug	Northern Province	Durban	Kingsmead Cricket	Lost	8–26
17	17 Aug	Natal	Pietermaritzburg		Won	15–11
18	20 Aug	Border Bulldogs	East London		Won	19–11
19	24 Aug	North-East Districts	Burgersdorp		Won	42–3
20	27 Aug	Eastern Province	Port Elizabeth	St George's Park	Won	6–5
21	3 Sep	South Africa	Port Elizabeth	St George's Park	Lost	3–19
22	10 Sep	South Africa	Cape Town	Newlands Stadium	Won	21–16
23	17 Sep	Western Province Universities	Cape Town	Newlands Stadium	Won	19–16
24	21 Sep	Western Province Country	Cape Town	Newlands Stadium	Lost	7–12

Test details

First Test

South Africa	26–12	British Isles
Try: Harris, Williams (2), Louw Con: Brand (4) Pen: Brand (2)	Report	Pen: Jenkins (3), Taylor

South Africa

British Isles

South Africa: G.H Brand, F.G Turner, G.P Lochner, P de Wet, D.O Williams, T.A Harris, D.H Craven (Captain), S.C Louw, J.W Lotz, M.M Louw, B.A du Toit, W.F Bergh, A.R Sherriff, W.E Bastard, L.C Strachan
British Isles: V..G.J Jenkins, E.J Unwin, D.J Macrae, H.R McKibbon, E.L Jones, F.J Reynolds, J.L Giles, M.E Morgan, C.R.A Graves, G.T Dancer, S Walker (Captain), R.B Mayne, R. Alexander, W.G Howard, A.R

References

1. British & Irish Lions results on Rugby Football History
2. Early Lions: Squads and results (1888–1938) on BBC Sport, 18 May 2005

v t e Rugby union tours of South Africa
British & Irish Lions	1891 1896 1903 1910 1924 1938 1955 1962 1968 1974 1980 1997 2009 2021
New Zealand	1928 1949 1960 1970 1976 1992 1996
Australia	1933 1953 1961 1963 1969 1992
Argentina	1965 (no test) 1971 (no test) 1994 2002 2003
England	1972 1984 1994 1998 2000 2007 2012 2018
France	1958 1964 1967 1971 1975 1980 1993 2001 2005 2006 2017
Ireland	1961 1981 1998 2004 2016 2024
Italy	1973 (no test) 1999 2001 2008
Scotland	1960 1999 (no test) 2003 2006
Wales	1964 1995 1998 2002 2004 2008 2014 2022
Fiji	1996
Samoa	2003 (no test) 2007
Tonga	1997
Various selections	1978 ((American Cougars) 1980 (Sudamérica XV) 1982 (Sudamérica XV) 1985 (Cavaliers) 1987 (South Sea Barbarians) 1989 (World XV)

• 1938 rugby union tours
• British & Irish Lions tours of South Africa
• Rugby union tours of Zimbabwe
• 1938 in South African rugby union
• 1937–38 in British rugby union
• 1938 in Irish sport