St Helen’s ArchivePreserving the past for the future
Five (End)
Transcript:
This is part five and the final part of the audio trail following the story of the South African tours to UK, Wales and specifically St Helen’s. The previous part explored the quiet years for the Springboks where the apartheid regime had made sporting arrangements difficult to make. This part however looks to the 1994 tour of Britain and Ireland, where apartheid had been ended in the preceding years of the 90’s, and the Springboks were welcome once more to play rugby football.
This short tour, just thirteen matches, two of which being tests, was held between late October and December of 1994. The South Africans returned to the UK at top form, once again reminding the sides that faced them why they were one of the ‘Big Three’ from the southern hemisphere. Of the two test matches, the game against Scotland on the 19th of November ended 34 to 10 to the tourists, whilst the game against Wales ended 20 to 12 a week later on the 26th. Swansea, for the final time, played the Springboks at St Helen’s on the 5th of November. In a substantial win, the tourists won the match 78 to 7. This same Springboks side would go on to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which they hosted, just over half a year later.
To return to the final visit of the Springboks to St Helen’s however, there is one last object that represents this game in the display that this trail has followed. Another plaque, it is a plain wood commemorative piece with the Springbok motif atop four King Protea flowers in the centre, surrounding a rugby ball. A metal plaque above reads: ‘Swansea 05-11-94’, for the given date of the match, with ‘Rugby 1994’ on a green scroll beneath. The protea flower , the national flower of South Africa, was chosen as a new emblem of South African rugby, following the end of Apartheid and Mandela’s election as President. Given the lightness of the wood used as well as the complexity of the central motif, the plaque stands out amongst the rest, and honours the final meeting of these two sides well, even if Swansea RFC could not quite meet the challenge posed by the tourists in the same way they did in 1912.
Why was there to be no further meetings of the two sides? Well, within months of this meeting with South Africa, the rugby union game turned professional and the monetary value of players and the commercial demands on the game at international level reduced any inclination to play against leading club sides. So, most international touring sides have now since abandoned these traditional club fixtures. Swansea had a history of facing the largest of the international sides and holding their own, but the game was entering a new era and it was not to last.
To return again to the letter that Chief Executive Officer Jurie Roux of the Springboks sent to Swansea RFC in 2013, he says, ‘nothing will take away Swansea’s victory’. These words ring with different meaning now, not just a kindness in addition to commenting on the strength of the Springboks side of 1912-13, but also a kindness that extends to protecting the meaningful accolade that Swansea were the first to obtain, the first club side to beat ‘The Big Three’. Whilst especially in challenging future incarnations of the Springboks, Swansea were less successful as the decades went on, the heritage remains, and this archive is honoured to share that with you.
This marks the end of the audio trail following the story of the South African Springboks tours that came to the UK, Wales and specifically St Helen’s. This trail has also explored the most substantial accolade of the first club side to beat the southern hemisphere ‘Big Three’, and the lasting legacy of such a meaningful achievement for a club side. This trail, and its sister trails for the other members of ‘The Big Three’ each follow a display at St Helen’s, equally sharing the story of this most substantial accolade. Therefore don’t forget these trails continue with both a trail on Australia’s tours, and New Zealand’s. Both of which can be found on the St Helen’s Archive website. Thank you for listening.