1936 British Lions tour to Argentina


The 1936 Great Britain tour of Argentina was a series of rugby union matches arranged between a British invitational team and various Argentine teams. The tourists played ten matches, nine of which were against club and combined teams while one match took in a full Argentina national team. Despite being sanctioned by the International Rugby Board, no caps were awarded to players from either side.
This was the third and final international tour to South America by a combined British team, and although classed as a Great Britain XV, it was predominantly English, with a handful of Scottish and Irish players.
The Lions won all the games played, scoring 399 points and conceding only 12.

Background

By 1936 Argentine rugby was in expansion and growth. Four years earlier, the Junior Springboks had visited the country to play several matches. In 1933 two South African players, Wollie Wolheim and Rybeck Elliot returned to Argentina to play for local team Hindú, which was considered by the Argentine Union as a sort of professionalism and Hindú was suspended for one season.
In 1935 eleven players of San Isidro were suspended by the club executives. The banned players organised some friendly matches under the name "Abelleyra XV" until they established a new institution, San Isidro Club.
The last Lions tour to Argentina came when former player Douglas Prentice, who had led the team during their tour to New Zealand an Australia in 1930 and was the current manager, arrived with twenty-three players. No Welsh players were part of the team despite Wales had won the Home Nations that year.
The British played only one test v. Argentina at Gimnasia y Esgrima, with a record attendance of 15,000, on August 16th. The Lions won by 23–0. The Argentine line-up for that game was Héctor Alfonso; R. Elliot, Herbert Talbot, Horacio Pascuali, Emilio Schiavio; Percy Talbot, N.W. Cooper; Jorge Cilley, Gilbert Logan, José Frigoli; J.L. Francombe, Tomás Salzman; Bernardo Mitchelstein, Víctor Inchausti, Archie Cameron.
Belgrano was the only team to score a try against The Lions, when the visiting team won by 37–3.

Touring party

;Notes

Match summary

Complete list of matches played by the British Isles in Argentina:
Test match
#DateRivalScoreVenueCity
115 JulBuenos Aires F.C.55–0Gimnasia y EsgrimaBuenos Aires
218 JulArgentina A27–0Gimnasia y EsgrimaBuenos Aires
322 JulOlivos27–3Gimnasia y EsgrimaBuenos Aires
426 JulArgentina B28–0Gimnasia y EsgrimaBuenos Aires
529 JulPacific Railway62–0Gimnasia y EsgrimaBuenos Aires
62 AugLitoral Rugby Union41–0Plaza JewellRosario
75 AugOld Georgian55–6Gimnasia y EsgrimaBuenos Aires
8[|9] AugBelgrano A.C.37–3Gimnasia y EsgrimaBuenos Aires
916 Aug23–0Gimnasia y EsgrimaBuenos Aires
1023 AugCASI–Hindú–CUBA Combined44–0Gimnasia y EsgrimaBuenos Aires

PlWDLPsPc
10100039912

Match details

Argentina Test