1936 British Lions tour to Argentina

Last updated

1936 British Lions tour to Argentina
Date15 July – 23 August
Coach(es) Flag of England.svg Doug Prentice
Tour captain(s) Flag of England.svg Bernard Gadney
Test series winners British Isles (1–0)
Top test point scorer(s) Flag of England.svg John Brett (7)
1936 British Lions tour to Argentina
Summary
PWDL
Total
10 100000
Test match
01010000
Opponent
PWDL
Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina
1 1 0 0

The 1936 British Lions tour of Argentina was a series of rugby union matches arranged between the British Lions and various Argentine teams. The tourists played ten matches, nine of which were against club and combined teams while one match took in a full Argentina national team. [1] Despite being sanctioned by the International Rugby Board, no caps were awarded to players from either side.

Contents

This was the third and final international tour to South America by a combined British team, and although classed as the British Lions, it was predominantly English, with a handful of Scottish and Irish players. [2]

The Lions won all the games played, scoring 399 points and conceding only 12.

Background

By 1936 Argentine rugby was in expansion and growth. Four years earlier, the Junior Springboks had visited the country to play several matches. In 1933 two South African players, Wollie Wolheim and Rybeck Elliot returned to Argentina to play for local team Hindú, which was considered by the Argentine Union as a sort of professionalism and Hindú was suspended for one season. [3]

In 1935 eleven players of San Isidro (the most important rugby team of Argentina by then) were suspended by the club executives. The banned players organised some friendly matches under the name "Abelleyra XV" until they established a new institution, San Isidro Club. [4]

The last Lions tour to Argentina came when former player Douglas Prentice, who had led the team during their tour to New Zealand an Australia in 1930 and was the current manager, arrived with twenty-three players. No Welsh players were part of the team despite Wales had won the Home Nations that year. [3]

The British played only one test v. Argentina at Gimnasia y Esgrima, with a record attendance of 15,000, on August 16. The Lions won by 23–0. The Argentine line-up for that game was Héctor Alfonso; R. Elliot, Herbert Talbot, Horacio Pascuali, Emilio Schiavio; Percy Talbot, Noel Cooper; Jorge Cilley, Gilbert Logan, José Frigoli; J.L. Francombe (cap), Tomás Salzman; Bernardo Mitchelstein, Víctor Inchausti, Archie Cameron. [3]

Belgrano was the only team to score a try against The Lions, when the visiting team won by 37–3. [3]

Touring party

Players

Notes
  1. Other sources refer to him as Peter Graham Hobbs. [5]

Match summary

Complete list of matches played by the British Isles in Argentina: [6] [7] [8]

  Test match

The Lions v. Argentina national team, played on 16 August at GEBA Lions pumas 1936.jpg
The Lions v. Argentina national team, played on 16 August at GEBA
#DateRivalScoreVenueCity
115 Jul Buenos Aires F.C. 55–0 Gimnasia y Esgrima Buenos Aires
218 Jul Argentina A 27–0 Gimnasia y Esgrima Buenos Aires
322 Jul Olivos 27–3 Gimnasia y Esgrima Buenos Aires
426 JulArgentina B28–0 Gimnasia y Esgrima Buenos Aires
529 Jul Pacific Railway 62–0 Gimnasia y Esgrima Buenos Aires
62 Aug Litoral Rugby Union 41–0 Plaza Jewell Rosario
75 Aug Old Georgian 55–6 Gimnasia y Esgrima Buenos Aires
89 Aug Belgrano A.C. 37–3 Gimnasia y Esgrima Buenos Aires
9 16 AugFlag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 23–0 Gimnasia y Esgrima Buenos Aires
1023 Aug CASIHindúCUBA Combined44–0 Gimnasia y Esgrima Buenos Aires
Balance
PlWDLPsPc
10100039912

Match details

Argentina Test

16 August 1936
Argentina  Flag of Argentina.svg0–23 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg British Isles
Report Try: Voyle (2)
Tallent
Unwin
Con: Brett (2)
Pen: Brett
Drop: Shaw
Gimnasia y Esgrima, Buenos Aires
Attendance: ?
Referee: Hugh Hughes (South Africa)
Kit left arm sky hoops.png
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body lightbluehoops.png
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm sky hoops.png
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks hoops sky.png
Kit socks long.svg
Argentina
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body collarwhite.png
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks whitetop.png
Kit socks long.svg
British Isles
ArgentinaBritish Isles
Héctor AlfonsoFB15FB Harold Uren
Riebeck ElliotW14W Jim Unwin
Herbert TalbotC13CJohn Talent
Horacio PascualliC12C Wilson Shaw
Eduardo SchiavioW11WVesey Boley
Percy TalbotFH10FHTom Knowles
Noel CooperSH9SH Bernard Gadney (c)
Gilbert LoganN88N8Peter Hobbs
José FrigoliF7FPeter Hordern
Jorge CilleyF6FWilliam Weston
Tomás SalzmanL5LThomas Huskisson
Jumbo Francombe (c)L4L Charles Beamish
Ray CameronP3PJohn Brett
Virgilio InchaustiH2H Owen Chadwick
Bernardo MitchelsteinP1PRobin Prescott

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leicester Tigers</span> English rugby union club, based in Leicester

Leicester Tigers are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Johnson (rugby union)</span> British Lions & England international rugby union player & coach

Martin Osborne Johnson CBE is an English retired rugby union player who represented and captained England and Leicester in a career spanning 16 seasons. He captained England to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and is regarded as one of the greatest locks ever to have played, and one of England's greatest ever players.

Austin Sean Healey (born 26 October 1973 in Wallasey, is a former English rugby union player who played as a utility back for Leicester Tigers, and represented both England and the British & Irish Lions.

Oliver James Smith is a former English rugby union international and domestic head coach, having had a spell with Esher RFC. During his playing career, he played for Harlequin F.C. Rugby Club, Montpellier Hérault Rugby, Leicester Tigers, England and the British & Irish Lions before a knee injury forced him to retire. He was a specialist outside centre but also occasionally played inside centre or wing.

The Middlesex Sevens was a Rugby Sevens tournament held annually at Twickenham stadium in London, England until 2011. It was first held in 1926, and started by Dr J.A. Russell-Cargill, a London-based Scot. The event was held at the end of the rugby union season in May every year for 75 years and moved to August in 2001 due to lack of available stadium dates and players in May. The Middlesex Sevens tournament was last played in 2011, as the new Premiership Rugby 7s Series caused many of the top clubs that previously took part to pull out.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harlequin F.C.</span> English rugby union club, based in Twickenham

Harlequins is a professional rugby union club that plays in Premiership Rugby, the top level of English rugby union. Their home ground is the Twickenham Stoop, located in Twickenham, south-west London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand Barbarians</span> Rugby team

The New Zealand Barbarian Rugby Club Inc., nicknamed the Barbarians, or Baa-Baas, is a rugby union club headquartered in Kingsland, Auckland. The idea came from the concept of the Barbarian F.C. The Barbarians played their home matches at Eden Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Hook (rugby union)</span> GB & Wales international rugby union player

James William Hook is a retired Welsh rugby union player. Hook has won 81 caps for Wales and is Wales' fifth highest all-time points scorer. Most often playing as a fly-half, Hook is known as a utility player, and has also played as a centre, wing and fullback.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Roberts</span> British Lions & Wales international rugby union footballer

Jamie Huw Roberts is a Welsh former professional rugby union player, who played as a centre.

The 1905 Home Nations Championship was the twenty-third series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 14 January and 18 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The 1906 Home Nations Championship was the twenty-fourth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 13 January and 17 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The 1973 England rugby union tour of Fiji and New Zealand was a series of matches played by the England national rugby union team in Fiji and New Zealand in August and September 1973. England played five games, including a test match against the New Zealand national rugby union team and a match against the Fiji national rugby union team for which England did not award full international caps. England beat Fiji by only a single point and lost all three matches against New Zealand provincial teams but completed the tour with their first win against New Zealand since 1936.

Dean Richards is a rugby union coach and former player for Leicester Tigers, England and British & Irish Lions. He was most recently the Director of Rugby at Newcastle Falcons, a position he held for ten years between 2012 and 2022.

Birkenhead Park Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Birkenhead, Wirral. The club operates five senior teams, a ladies team and six junior sides. The men's senior team play in North 2 West at the sixth level of the English rugby union system, however have gained promotion returning to North West 1 after finishing the 2023-24 season as league champions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1910 British Lions tour to Argentina</span> Series of rugby union matches

The 1910 British Lions tour to Argentina was a rugby tour of Argentina made by a side made up of 16 English players and 3 Scots. The organisers of the tour named the team the "English Rugby Union team", but the host country advertised the touring team as the British Combined. The 1910 team has been termed as one of the three "lost lions" tours, and is detailed on the British and Irish Lions official website. For Argentina, this tour marked the start of international rugby union and the test against the Combined British on 12 June 1910 was the first test in the Argentine national team's history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Africa rugby union team</span> Rugby team

Established in 1950, the East Africa rugby union team is a multi-national rugby union team drawing players from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, though the vast majority of these came from Kenya which has traditionally been the strongest rugby playing nation in the region. The team has played against incoming international, representative and club touring sides and it conducted seven tours between 1954 and 1982.

Gordon Herbert Waddell was a Scottish rugby union player, a South African politician, and the son of Herbert Waddell. He played for Scotland, the Barbarians and on two British and Irish Lions tours. In fact he is the only Scottish stand off to be a double Lion. He had 18 caps between 1957 and 1962 - this record for a Scotland fly-half was only later broken by John Rutherford. He played 12 times for the Barbarians between 1957 and 1960, scoring in three matches including their 1958 match against East Africa in Nairobi on 28 May 1958. In 1962 he was the controlling influence in Scotland's first win in Wales since the 1930s, a feat not repeated for another twenty years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doug Prentice</span> British Lions & England international rugby union player

Frank Douglas Prentice was an English rugby union player and administrator who played 239 games for Leicester Tigers between 1923 and 1931, was captain of the 1930 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia and served as Secretary of the Rugby Football Union between 1947 and 1962.

History of Leicester Tigers details the history of the rugby union club based in Leicester, England. Nicknamed the Tigers from 1885, Leicester have been a prominent club from the earliest days of organised English rugby dominating midlands rugby before the First World War; providing British Lions captains in 1930, 1936, 1997 and 2001; and winning 21 major titles since 1979 including a record 11 Premiership Rugby titles.

John Robert Chester Young was an English rugby union player who played in the Wing position. Young played club rugby for Harlequin F.C., was capped nine times for the England national team, and was a member of the British Lions team that toured in 1959, playing in one test match during the tour against New Zealand.

References

  1. "La Unión de Rugby del Río de la Plata". UAR.com. 1937. Retrieved 20 March 2011.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. "1936 Argentina". lionsrugby.com. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Lions (tercer viaje olvidado) by Ricardo Sabanes on Periodismo Rugby website, 1 Jun 2017
  4. SIC: El alumbramiento, La Nación, 12 July 2005
  5. Peter Hobbs profile on ESPN Scrum
  6. British & Irish Lions results on Rugby Football History
  7. Early Lions: Squads and results (1888–1938) on BBC Sport, 18 May 2005
  8. Match report Great Britain XV tour - Buenos Aires, 16 August 1936