1908 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia

The 1908 British Isles tour to New Zealand and Australia was the seventh tour by a British Isles team and the fifth to New Zealand and Australia. The tour is often referred to as the "Anglo-Welsh Tour" as only English and Welsh players were selected due to the Irish and Scottish Rugby Unions not participating. It is retrospectively classed as one of the British Lions tours, as the Lions naming convention was not adopted until 1950.

Lead by Arthur 'Boxer' Harding and managed by George Harnett [ [http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=HNS19081201.2.10&cl=&srpos=0&st=1&e=-------en--1----0-all Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LVI, Issue LVI, 1 December 1908, Page 4] Papers Past website] the tour took in 26 matches, 9 in Australia and 17 in New Zealand. Of the 26 games, 23 were against club or invitational teams and three were test matches against the All Blacks. The Lions lost two and drew one match against the All Blacks.

The tour was not received well in Wales, as the Welsh players selected were chosen exclusively from those players from a well educated and professional class background. The selection was in fact addressed by the Welsh Rugby Union who stated that when a British Isles team was mooted for a South Africa tour in 1910, that the players should be chosen '...irrespective of the social position of the players.' [ "Fields of Praise, The Official History of the Welsh Rugby Union 1881-1981", David Smith, Gareth Williams; University of Wales Press (1980), pg 175 ISBN 0708307663]

Touring Party

*Manager: George Harnett

Full Backs

*J.C.M. Dyke (Cardiff)
*E.J. 'John' Jackett (Falmouth)

Three-Quarters

*F.E. Chapman (Westoe)
*Reggie Gibbs (Cardiff)
*Johnnie Williams (Cardiff)
*R.B. Griffiths (Newport)
*Jack Jones (Pontypool)
*J.P. 'Tuan' Jones (Guy's Hospital)
*P.F. McEvedy (Guy's Hospital)
*H.H. Vassall (Blackheath)

Half backs

*J. Davey (Redruth)
*H. Laxon (Cambridge University)
*W.L. Morgan (Cardiff)
*G.L. Williams (Liverpool)

Forwards

*H. Archer (Guy's Hospital)
*R. Dibble (Bridgwater)
*Percy Down (Bristol)
*G.V.Kyrke (Marlborough Nomads)
*R.K. Green (Neath)
*Edgar Morgan (Swansea)
*L.S. Thomas (Penarth)
*Arthur Harding (Cardiff) "(captain)"
*Jack Williams (London Welsh)
*G.R.Hind (Guy's Hospital)
*F.S. Jackson (Leicester)
*W.L. Oldham (Coventry)
*J.A.S. Ritson (Northern)
*T.W. Smith (Leicester)

Results

The matches

First Test

rugbybox
date = June 6
home = flagicon|NZL New Zealand
score = 32 – 5
away = flagicon|GBR British Isles
homescore = Try: Cameron
Hunter
Mitchinson (2)
Roberts (2)
Thompson
Con: Francis
Gillett (2)
Roberts
Pen: Roberts
awayscore = Try: Gibbs
Con: Jackson
stadium =Carisbrook,Dunedin
attendance = 23,000
referee = J Duncan flagicon|NZL(Otago, New Zealand) ----

econd Test

rugbybox
date = June 27
home = flagicon|NZL New Zealand
score = 3 – 3
away = flagicon|GBR British Isles
homescore = Pen: Francis
awayscore = Try: Jones
stadium = Athletic Park, Wellington
attendance = 10,000
referee = A. Campbell flagicon|NZL(Auckland, New Zealand) ----

Third Test

rugbybox
date = July 25
home = flagicon|NZL New Zealand
score = 29 – 0
away = flagicon|GBR British Isles
homescore = Try: Deans
Francis Gillett
Glasgow
Hayward
Hunter
Mitchinson
Con: Colman
awayscore =
stadium = Potters Park, Auckland
attendance = 12,000
referee = A. Campbell flagicon|NZL(Auckland, New Zealand)

References