| Team: | British Lions |
| Yearstart: | 1910 |
| Destination: | South Africa |
| Matchplayed: | 24 |
| Matchwon: | 13 |
| Matchdraw: | 3 |
| Matchlost: | 8 |
| Testplayed: | 3 |
| Testwon: | 1 |
| Testdraw: | 0 |
| Testlost: | 2 |
| Played1: | 3 |
| Won1: | 1 |
| Draw1: | 0 |
| Lost1: | 2 |
The 1910 British Isles tour to South Africa was the eighth tour by a British Isles rugby union team and the fourth to South Africa. It is retrospectively classed as one of the British Lions tours, as the Lions naming convention was not adopted until 1950. As well as South Africa, the tour included a game in Bulawayo in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.
Led by Ireland's Tommy Smyth and managed by Walter E. Rees and W Cail the tour took in 24 matches. Of the 24 games, 21 were against club or invitational teams and three were test matches against the South African national team. The British Isles team lost two and won one test match against the Springboks.
Seven players from Newport RFC were selected for the tour which was for a time the record for players selected from one club for a British Lions Tour.
The Lions jerseys switched from red to blue, with white shorts and red socks. This combination would remain until 1950.[1]
Complete list of matches played by the British Isles in South Africa:[3] [4]
Test matches
| Date | Opponent | Location | Result | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 June | South Western Districts | Mossel Bay | Won | 14–4 | |
| 2 | 15 June | Western Province (County) | Cape Town | Won | 11–3 | |
| 3 | 18 June | Western Province (College) | Cape Town | Won | 9–3 | |
| 4 | 22 June | Western Province (Town) | Cape Town | Drew | 11–11 | |
| 5 | 25 June | Western Province | Cape Town | Won | 5–3 | |
| 6 | 29 June | Griqualand West | Kimberley | Lost | 0–8 | |
| 7 | 2 July | Transvaal | Johannesburg | Lost | 8–27 | |
| 8 | 5 July | Pretoria | Pretoria | Won | 17–0 | |
| 9 | 7 July | Transvaal (County) | Johannesburg | Won | 45–4 | |
| 10 | 9 July | Transvaal | Johannesburg | Lost | 6–13 | |
| 11 | 13 July | Pietermaritzburg | Won | 18–16 | ||
| 12 | 16 July | Durban | Won | 19–13 | ||
| 13 | 20 July | Orange River County | Bloemfontein | Won | 12–9 | |
| 14 | 23 July | Griqualand West | Kimberley | Lost | 3–9 | |
| 15 | 27 July | Cape Colony | Kimberley | Lost | 0–19 | |
| 16 | 30 July | Won | 24–11 | |||
| 17 | 6 August | Wanderers Ground, Johannesburg | Lost | 10–14 | ||
| 18 | 10 August | North Eastern Districts | Burgersdorp | Drew | 8–8 | |
| 19 | 13 August | Border | East London | Won | 30–10 | |
| 20 | 17 August | Border | King Williams Town | Drew | 13–13 | |
| 21 | 20 August | Eastern Province | Port Elizabeth | Won | 14–6 | |
| 22 | 27 August | Crusaders Ground, Port Elizabeth | Won | 8–3 | ||
| 23 | 3 September | Newlands, Cape Town | Lost | 5–21 | ||
| 24 | 6 September | Western Province | Cape Town | Lost | 0–8 |
| width=40px | Pl | width=40px | W | width=40px | D | width=40px | L | width=40px | Ps | width=40px | Pc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | 13 | 3 | 8 | 290 | 236 |
Ireland
Australia