1938 British Lions tour to South Africa
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.
| 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) |
| 1938 British Lions tour to South Africa | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summary |
| ||||
| Total |
| ||||
| Test match |
| ||||
| Opponent |
| ||||
| South Africa |
| ||||
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.