British Lions v The Rest

British Lions v The Rest
EventIRFB Centenary
Date16 April 1986
VenueCardiff Arms Park
RefereeR C Francis (New Zealand)
WeatherWet

British Lions v The Rest was a 1986 rugby union match that saw the British Lions play against 'The Rest' to celebrate the centenary of the International Rugby Football Board. The Rest consisted of players from Australia, France, New Zealand and South Africa. At the time, there were only eight unions affiliated to the Board, thus only players from those countries were chosen. The Rest beat the Lions 15–7 in April 1986 in the match played at Cardiff Arms Park.

British Lions selection

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The Lions team was selected by the Four Home Unions committee which organises Lions tours. The Lions would have toured South Africa in 1986 if the regular schedule had been followed, but in December 1985 the South African Rugby Board announced they would not be inviting the Lions side to tour South Africa the following year. Political objections to South Africa's apartheid policies including a potential boycott of the 1986 Commonwealth Games and state of emergency in South Africa at the time lay behind this decision. The Lions squad was managed by Clive Rowlands and coached by Mick Doyle.[1] The 21 players selected were issued with Lions' blazers and ties and considered to be official British Lions.[2]

The match

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The match was a midweek game in Cardiff. The wet weather marred the game, in marked contrast to the Overseas Unions match three days later played in ideal conditions at Twickenham.[3]

FB 15 Scotland Gavin Hastings
RW 14 Ireland Trevor Ringland
OC 13 Ireland Brendan Mullin
IC 12 Wales John Devereux
LW 11 England Rory Underwood
FH 10 Scotland John Rutherford downward-facing red arrow
SH 9 Wales Robert Jones
N8 8 Scotland John Beattie
OF 7 Ireland Nigel Carr
BF 6 Scotland John Jeffrey
RL 5 Ireland Donal Lenihan
LL 4 England Wade Dooley downward-facing red arrow
TP 3 Ireland Des Fitzgerald
HK 2 Scotland Colin Deans (c)
LP 1 Wales Jeff Whitefoot
Replacements:
CE 16 Ireland Mike Kiernan
SH 17 England Richard Hill
FH 18 Wales Malcolm Dacey upward-facing green arrow
PR 19 Scotland Iain Milne
HK 20 England Steve Brain
LK 21 Scotland Iain Paxton upward-facing green arrow
Coach:
Ireland Mick Doyle
FB 15 France Serge Blanco
RW 14 France Patrick Estève
OC 13 Australia Andrew Slack (c)
IC 12 Australia Michael Lynagh
LW 11 New Zealand John Kirwan
FH 10 New Zealand Wayne Smith
SH 9 Australia Nick Farr-Jones
N8 8 New Zealand Murray Mexted
BF 7 Australia Simon Poidevin
OF 6 New Zealand Mark Shaw
RL 5 South Africa Schalk Burger
LL 4 Australia Steve Cutler
TP 3 New Zealand Gary Knight
HK 2 Australia Tom Lawton
LP 1 Australia Enrique Rodriguez
Replacements:
HK 16
PR 17 South Africa Danie Gerber
PR 18 South Africa Naas Botha
LK 19 New Zealand Andy Dalton
LK 20 South Africa Flippie van der Merwe
FL 21 Australia Steve Tuynman
Coach:

See also

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References

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  • Starmer-Smith, Nigel, ed. (1986). Rugby - A Way of Life, An Illustrated History of Rugby. Lennard Books. p. 186. ISBN 0-7126-2662-X.
  1. ^ Griffiths, John. "The Lions tour that never was, Cecil Afrika's Sevens' career and Shane Williams' try-scoring rate". espnscrum.com. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  2. ^ Thomas, Clem (2005). The History of the British and Irish Lions. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. p. 202. ISBN 1845960300.
  3. ^ Scrum.com match summary