1980 British Lions tour to South Africa
| 1980 British Lions Tour to South Africa | |
|---|---|
| Date | 10 May – 12 July |
| Coach(es) | Noel Murphy |
| Tour captain(s) |
 Bill Beaumont
|
| Test series winners |
 South Africa (1–3) |
| Top test point scorer(s) |
 Tony Ward (18) |
In 1980 the British Lions rugby union team toured South Africa (including one game in Windhoek, South West Africa, the future Namibia). The tour was not a success in terms of international results, the Lions losing the first three tests before salvaging some pride with a win in the fourth. The team did however win all their 14 non-international matches. The side was captained by Bill Beaumont.
The tour went ahead in the face of opposition from the British Government and groups opposed to sporting contact with the apartheid regime in South Africa. Britain was a signatory to the 1977 Gleneagles Agreement in which Commonwealth governments agreed to discourage sporting contacts with South Africa. The Government of the Republic of Ireland were also against the tour. The Four Home Unions committee which organises Lions tours decided to go ahead with the planned tour, despite this opposition, in November 1979 and the rugby unions of England (RFU), Ireland (IRFU), Scotland (SRU) and Wales (WRU) all approved the tour by January 1980.
Of the 30 players originally selected, ten had previous Lions tour experience. Derek Quinnell had toured New Zealand in 1971 and 1977; Andy Irvine and Fran Cotton had toured South Africa in 1974 and New Zealand in 1977 while Bruce Hay, Bill Beaumont, Allan Martin, Graham Price, Jeff Squire, Peter Wheeler and Clive Williams had all toured New Zealand in 1977. Elgan Rees, added to the party before it left the UK, and Phil Orr, a replacement during the tour, had also toured in 1977. Quinnell was selected despite not playing in the 1980 Five Nations Championship; he had also toured in 1971 when yet to be capped by Wales.
The tour party was disrupted by an unusually high number of injuries and replacements throughout the 10-week-long tour. Eight players flew to South Africa to reinforce the original 30 tourists; Gareth Williams, Tony Ward, Ian Stephens, John Robbie, Phil Orr, Andy Irvine, Paul Dodge and Steve Smith.
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