South African Country Districts XV

The South African Country Districts XV was an invitational rugby union side selected to play against touring international teams.In one of its first guises, the Districts side lost 32-12 against the touring British Isles' Barbarians at Potchefstroom (23/05/69) whose touring party included eight future or former British and Irish Lions with the likes of Mike Gibson,Sandy Arneil,Bob Taylor,John Pullin and John O'Shea having toured the Republic in 1968. In 1978 and 1980 the team was multi-racial in composition. The Districts' multi-racial predecessor was the South African Invitation XV which on 7 June 1975 beat the French at Newlands in Cape Town by 18 points to 3.[1]

In August 1978 the Country Districts XV played the touring American Cougars at the Border Rugby Union Grounds in East London before 5,500 spectators, winning 44-12.[2][3][4]

1980 Match v Lions

On Wednesday 4 June 1980 the South African Country Districts XV team lost 7-27 at Windhoek's South-West Stadium to the Lions on their tour of South Africa. A crowd of 9,000 saw replacement Charles Williams score a try and fly-half Errol Tobias add a penalty to complete the Districts' score. Jim Renwick, Gareth Williams, Clive Woodward and Colm Tucker scored a try each for the visitors, while Gareth Davies added 11 points through a conversion and three penalties.[5]

Lineups:

SA Districts Position Lions
Solomon Mhlaba Fullback Bruce Hay (capt)
E Durrheim Wing Clive Woodward
J Els Centre Ray Gravell
Hennie Shields Centre Jim Renwick
Brendan Venter Wing Peter Morgan
Errol Tobias Fly-half Gareth Davies
JP Venter Scrum-half John Robbie
J Volschenk Prop Ian Stephens
Noel van Rensburg (capt) Hooker Peter Wheeler
D Mather Prop Phil Orr
A Botha Lock Alan Tomes
R Meyer Lock Allan Martin
M Cushe Flanker John Beattie
Hendrik Schrader Flanker Colm Tucker
J Wolfaardt 8th Man Gareth Williams
Charles Williams Replacement

On 26 May 1981 a Country Districts B XV recorded a 17-16 victory in Wellington against the touring Irish side whilst the following year they were defeated 33-24 by the second South American Jaguars touring side.

The Country Districts side played against both the 1984 touring English and South American Jaguar sides.The team was drawn from players competing in the Sport Pienaar Cup,losing both fixtures 33-12 and 30-18 respectively.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Griffiths, John. "The first official multi-race team in SA, MPs with international honours and Varsity Blues.". espnscrum.com. Retrieved 2011-12-20.
  2. ↑ "South Africans Down Americans". The News and Courier. Associated Press. 1978-08-12. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
  3. ↑ "Sports Shorts". The Robesonian. Associated Press. 1978-08-11. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
  4. ↑ Select Books (2010). "Sports Catalogue May 2010. [Opens .doc file directly.]". Retrieved 2011-12-21.
  5. ↑ "South African Country 7 v 27 British and Irish Lions". Retrieved 2011-12-26.
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