1908 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia explained

Team:	British Lions
Yearstart:	1908
Destination:	New Zealand and Australia
Matchplayed:	26
Matchwon:	19
Matchdraw:	1
Matchlost:	6
Testplayed:	3
Testwon:	0
Testdraw:	1
Testlost:	2
Played1:	3
Won1:	0
Draw1:	1
Lost1:	2

The 1908 British Isles tour to New Zealand and Australia was the seventh tour by a British Isles team and the fourth 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.

Led by Arthur 'Boxer' Harding and managed by George Harnett^[1] 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.'^[2]

Regarding the Lions uniform, 1908 brought a change of format and a change of colours. With the Scottish and Irish unions declining to be involved, red jerseys with a thick white band reflected the combination of England and Wales. Shorts were dark blue with red socks.^[3]

Touring party

• Manager: George Harnett

Full Backs

• John Dyke (Penarth)
• E.J. 'John' Jackett (Falmouth/Leicester)

Three-Quarters

• Fred Chapman (Westoe)
• Reggie Gibbs (Cardiff)
• Johnnie Williams (Cardiff)
• Rowland Griffiths (Newport)
• Jack Jones (Pontypool)
• James Phillips Jones (Guy's Hospital)
• Pat McEvedy (Guy's Hospital)
• Henry Vassall (Blackheath)

Half backs

• James "Maffer" Davey (Redruth)
• Herbert Laxon (Cambridge University)
• William Llewellyn Morgan (Cardiff)
• G.L. Williams (Liverpool)

Forwards

• Herbert Archer (Guy's Hospital)
• Robert Dibble (Bridgwater)
• Percy Down (Bristol)
• Gerald Kyrke (Marlborough Nomads)
• R.K. Green (Neath)
• Edgar Morgan (Swansea)
• L.S. Thomas (Penarth)
• Arthur Harding (Cardiff) (captain)
• Jack Williams (London Welsh)
• Guy Hind (Guy's Hospital)
• F.S. Jackson (Leicester)
• William Oldham (Coventry)
• John Anthony Sydney Ritson (Northern)
• Thomas William Smith (Leicester)

Results

Complete list of matches played by the British Isles in New Zealand and Australia:^{[4] [5]}

Test matches

	width=80px	Date	width=150px	Rival	width=120px	City	width=100px	Country	width=50px	Result	width=50px	Score
1	23 May			New Zealand	Won	17–3
2	27 May	Wellington		New Zealand	Lost	13–19
3	30 May	Otago		New Zealand	Lost	6–9
4	3 June	Southland		New Zealand	Won	14–8
5	6 June			New Zealand	Lost	5–32
6	10 June	South Canterbury		New Zealand	Won	12–6
7	13 June	Canterbury		New Zealand	Lost	8–13
8	17 June	West Coast/Buller		New Zealand	Won	22–3
9	20 June	Nelson Bays/Marlborough		New Zealand	Won	12–0
10	27 June			New Zealand	Drew	3–3
11	1 July	Hawke's Bay		New Zealand	Won	25–3
12	4 July	Poverty Bay		New Zealand	Won	26–0
13	8 July	Manawatu/Horowhenua		New Zealand	Won	12–3
14	11 July	Wanganui		New Zealand	Won	9–6
15	15 July	Taranaki		New Zealand	Lost	0–5
16	18 July	Auckland		New Zealand	Lost	0–11
17	25 July			New Zealand	Lost	0–29
18	5 August	NSW Waratahs		Australia	Won	3–0
19	8 August	NSW Waratahs		Australia	Won	8–0
20	12 August	Western Districts		Australia	Lost	10–15
21	15 August	Metropolitan		Australia	Won	16–13
22	19 August	Newcastle		Australia	Won	42–0
23	22 August	NSW Waratahs		Australia	Lost	3–6
24	26 August	Queensland Reds		Australia	Won	20–3
25	29 August	Queensland Reds		Australia	Won	11–8
26	2 September	Brisbane		Australia	Won	26–3

Balance

width=100px	Played in	width=40px	Pl	width=40px	W	width=40px	D	width=40px	L	width=40px	Ps	width=40px	Pc
New Zealand	17	9	1	7	184	153
Australia	9	7	0	2	139	48
Total	26	16	1	9	323	201

Test details

Third Test

External links

• Web site: 1908 New Zealand and Australia . British Lions Ltd . 26 August 2015.
• Geoffrey T. Vincent, '"Practical Imperialism": The Anglo-Welsh Rugby Tour of New Zealand, 1908', The International Journal of the History of Sport, vol. 15, no. 1, April 1998, pp. 123–40 (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523369808714015?journalCode=fhsp20#preview).
• "Second Test Match" Detailed description of game from newspaper.

Notes and References

1. 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
2. Fields of Praise, The Official History of the Welsh Rugby Union 1881–1981, David Smith, Gareth Williams; University of Wales Press (1980), p. 175
3. https://web.archive.org/web/20080607011421/http://www.lionsrugby.com/history/412.php Lions change their stripes
4. http://www.rugbyfootballhistory.com/lions_results.html British & Irish Lions results
5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/international/4428407.stm Early Lions: Squads and results (1888–1938)