South African Country Districts XV


The South African Country Districts XV was an invitational rugby union side selected to play against touring international teams. In one of its first guises, the Districts side lost 32-12 against the touring British Isles' Barbarians at Potchefstroom whose touring party included eight future or former British and Irish Lions with the likes of Mike Gibson,Sandy Arneil,Bob Taylor,John Pullin and John O'Shea having toured the Republic in 1968. In 1978 and 1980 the team was multi-racial in composition. The Districts' multi-racial predecessor was the South African Invitation XV which on 7 June 1975 beat the French at Newlands in Cape Town by 18 points to 3.
In August 1978 the Country Districts XV played the touring American Cougars at the Border Rugby Union Grounds in East London before 5,500 spectators, winning 44-12.
As one of four games played prior to the Currie Cup final of 1979,a Country Districts XV defeated the multi racial SA Barbarian side 29-13 in Cape Town prior to their departure on their UK tour in October.

1980 Match v Lions

On Wednesday 4 June 1980 the South African Country Districts XV team lost 7-27 at Windhoek's South-West Stadium to the Lions on their tour of South Africa. A crowd of 9,000 saw replacement Charles Williams score a try and fly-half Errol Tobias add a penalty to complete the Districts' score. Jim Renwick, Gareth Williams, Clive Woodward and Colm Tucker scored a try each for the visitors, while Gareth Davies added 11 points through a conversion and three penalties.
Lineups:
SA DistrictsPositionLions
Solomon MhlabaFullbackBruce Hay
E DurrheimWingClive Woodward
J ElsCentreRay Gravell
Hennie ShieldsCentreJim Renwick
Brendan VenterWingPeter Morgan
Errol TobiasFly-halfGareth Davies
JP VenterScrum-halfJohn Robbie
J VolschenkPropIan Stephens
Noel van Rensburg HookerPeter Wheeler
D MatherPropPhil Orr
A BothaLockAlan Tomes
R MeyerLockAllan Martin
M CusheFlankerJohn Beattie
Hendrik SchraderFlankerColm Tucker
J Wolfaardt8th ManGareth Williams
Charles WilliamsReplacement

On 26 May 1981 a Country Districts B XV recorded a 17-16 victory in Wellington against the touring Irish side whilst the following year they were defeated 33-24 by the second South American Jaguars touring side.
The Country Districts side played against both the 1984 touring English and South American Jaguar sides. The team was drawn from players competing in the Sport Pienaar Cup, losing both fixtures 33-12 and 30-18 respectively.