When the
British Lions went to
South Africa for their
1955 and
1962 tours, they played East Africa in
Nairobi on the return legs of their journeys. The Lions won both of these games, 39-12 and 50–0 respectively. The 1955 game was East Africa's first international and also saw the official opening of the team's home stadium, the
RFUEA Ground, then called the Ngong Road Ground. In 1958, East Africa hosted the
Barbarians on their first tour of Africa. The Barbarians, managed by
Brigadier Glyn Hughes and captained by Scotland's
Jim Greenwood, took in six matches, the first five all played in South Africa, but the final match of the tour was against East Africa. The game was played on 28 May, with the Barbarians winning 58–12,
Tony O'Reilly scoring seven
tries. East Africa would also play against
South Africa in 1961 and
Wales on their
1964 tour of Africa. and therefore also their first in the
Southern Hemisphere, albeit a mere hundred miles from the
Equator. Wales won the match, 26–8. Five and a half years after their first match against the University of Cape Town, East Africa played their first international match against the
British Lions, as they returned home from their
1955 tour of
South Africa. The
Rugby Football Union of East Africa (RFUEA) took the opportunity of the 1955 match to invite the Lions manager (
J.A.E. Siggins) to officially open their newly built national stadium, the
RFUEA Ground (then called the
Ngong Road Ground) prior to kick-off. The capacity crowd of 6000 was treated to a magnificent display of running handling rugby that had characterised the tourists' games in South Africa. According to the match programme, East Africa fielded seven players who were winning their first cap, Brodziak, Chambers, Darroch, MacLean, Meintjes, Tippett and Wheeler. In addition East Africa selected two reserves and the Lions one; although substitutions were not allowed it was usual to select reserves at this time in case a player did not arrive on time or was unable to start the match. The match programme also states that
Frank Sykes (
Northampton & ),
Robin Roe (
Lansdowne & ) and
Tom Reid (
Garryowen & ) had been selected to play this match, but the Lions' archives suggest that ultimately they did not. It appears that the reserve
Bryn Meredith and
Billy Williams (who had been assigned as the Lions touch-judge) were called upon to start in place of Roe and R.H. Williams while D.G.S. Baker was required to fill in for Sykes. East Africa took the field as advertised in the programme. One of the contemporary match reports was written by Tony Coxall, a 13-year-old pupil from
Arusha School in
Tanzania who attended the match as part of a school trip in which twenty boys undertook the five-and-a-half-hour, journey to Nairobi in a 1.5 ton lorry. In this report it is stated that the Lions scored two tries before East Africa answered with a penalty and that at half time the score was 6-19. It also states that the seats cost 1 shilling each and that the crowd were entertained by the band of the
Royal Irish Fusiliers at half-time. As was usual for touring teams visiting East Africa during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, the Lions were given private hospitality as opposed to staying in hotels.
Cliff Morgan,
Haydn Morris and
Gareth Griffiths (all players with
Cardiff RFC) stayed with Mr. and Mrs. Arthur "Pat" Bryant, who had played for Cardiff prior to World War I, and who was an official of the
East African Rugby Union. He had refereed for the
RFUEA (in his blue and black Cardiff jersey) until his retirement at about 63 years of age. The tourists also encountered another former Cardiff player from the 1940s, Captain Howell Loveluck who was in Kenya as chaplain to the British Forces stationed there at the time of the
Mau Mau Uprising. There is a frequently repeated
urban legend that
Idi Amin (later to become the infamous
military dictator of
Uganda) was selected as a replacement by East Africa for their match against the
1955 British Lions. The story is entirely unfounded, he does not appear on the team list or in the team photograph
Mike Gibson of
Ireland is generally recognised as being the first ever replacement in a rugby union match (he came on for the injured
Barry John during the first test in
Pretoria on the
1968 British Lions tour to South Africa). The first replacement for East Africa was Douglas
"Dougie" Hamilton who came on in the 1968 match versus
Queen's University (Belfast) R.F.C. Barbarian F.C. 1958 Source: The Barbarians, managed by Brigadier HL Glyn-Hughes and H Waddell, had just completed a successful tour of South Africa and stopped off in Nairobi on their way home. Members of this team who had previously visited Nairobi with the 1955 Lions were RH Williams, AJF O'Reilly, REG Jeeps, HF McLeod, JT Greenwood, CI Morgan, AR Smith and AC Pedlow. RH Davies had previously toured with the 1957 Combined (Oxford and Cambridge) Universities side. The match was played before a capacity crowd in the late afternoon to early evening on a Wednesday; the papers reported that the colony's Legislative Council (Legco.) had adjourned early that day before cryptically referring to the Barbarian game later in the same paragraph by way of an oblique explanation. The visitors playing champagne rugby in the highest traditions of their club. Tony O'Reilly scored seven tries, no doubt making up for the fact that he had been injured and unable to play when he had come to Nairobi with the Lions three years earlier. East Africa's first try was scored by RN Angus of Kenya Harlequins, the first scored by East Africa on their Ngong Road ground.
Springboks 1961 In 1960–1961, the Springboks undertook a four-month tour of the United Kingdom and France, winning all their 43 matches except for a 0–0 draw against France and a 6–0 defeat by the Barbarians at Cardiff in what is often inaccurately listed as the final match of that tour. They left London on Wednesday February 22 by air, landing in Nairobi for a four-day stopover in Kenya on their way back to Johannesburg and, on Saturday 25 February 1961, they played East Africa. This was the only meeting between these teams, quite possibly the first match between South Africa and another African "nation", but unequivocally the true last match of the tour. The final score was 39–0, the half-time score having been 15–0 with South Africa piling on a further 21 points within a quarter of an hour of the beginning of the second half, though the flood gates were closed for the rest of the match with the Springboks then only scoring once more. Johannes "Hannes" Botha (a flanker) and Gideon "Giepie" Wentzel (a full-back) played out of position.
British Lions 1962 Source:
Wales 1964 In 1964, the Welsh national team undertook their first overseas tour, a five-match
tour of Africa. They left London on Sunday May 10 flying to
Nairobi, arriving on Monday morning. They played their first ever match outside Europe (and thus their first match in the
Southern Hemisphere) against East Africa on Tuesday May 12, winning 26–8, before flying to
Cape Town on Wednesday. Welsh captain Clive Rowlands dictated the patterns of play and orchestrated many of the fine Welsh moves. The Welsh tries were great efforts, especially Dewi Bebb's who snatched a chance from a lineout three yards from the line and dived over before the opposition could lay a finger on him. The East African team fought valiantly and often caused the visitors defence problems with strong surging runs; their star player was Eric Weaver a Welshman serving in Nairobi with the RAF, he had previously played professional football with Swindon town. The Welsh fly-half in this match (Marsden Young) had not been – and was not subsequently – capped by Wales. As this match was not regarded as a full test by the Welsh Rugby Union, so this player does not appear on the
List of Wales national rugby union players. The remaining four matches of the tour were in
South Africa, who were celebrating the 75th anniversary of the
South African Rugby Board. The first of these was played on May 19 against
Boland at
Wellington which they won 17–6. The test-match against
South Africa, played at
King's Park,
Durban on May 23, was lost 3–24. The final two games were played on May 27 and May 30 against
Northern Transvaal at
Pretoria (lost 9–22) and the
Orange Free State at
Bloemfontein (won 14–6). It was the lack of success experienced by the team on this tour that is credited with sparking the Welsh Rugby Union into action, appointing their first national coach and reaping the rewards with their fabled teams of the 1970s. ==Tuskers tours==