1906–07 South Africa rugby union tour of Europe
The 1906–07 South Africa tour of Europe was a collection of friendly rugby union games undertaken by the South Africa national team against the four British Home Nation teams. The tour also took in several matches against British and Irish club, county and invitational teams before finally travelling to France to play the national team.
1906–07 South Africa rugby union tour of Europe | |||||
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The South Africa touring squad photographed in London | |||||
Manager | Cecil Carden | ||||
Tour captain(s) | Paul Roos | ||||
Summary |
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Total |
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Test match |
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Opponent |
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Scotland |
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Ireland |
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Wales |
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England |
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France |
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Tour chronology | |||||
Next tour | 1912–13 Europe |
This was the inaugural South Africa tour and is recognised as the event that coined the phrase Springboks as a nickname for the South African team. The sports-themed South African novelty song "The Springboks' Waltz" was released in 1906 to commemorate the tour.
The 1906 Springboks were "the first national team to utilize the 3–4–1 formation".
The tour was extremely successful for the South Africans which helped garner respect from the Northern Hemisphere teams and established South Africa as a formidable rugby playing country. In the tests played the team would only lose to Scotland and drew against England. The South African defeat of Wales was a shock to many critics and ended the international careers of some of the greatest Welsh players of the time. Out of 29 matches played, South Africa won 26, lost two and drew one.