The 1937 Springbok backline in action against Australia.
The 1937 South Africa tour to Australasia[1] was one of the most successful
Springbok tours in history, so much so that the touring team was nicknamed the "Invincibles". The squad was captained by
Philip Nel.
The tour started on 26 June 1937 at the
Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, Australia with a 9–5 win over the
Wallabies. The Springboks followed up the win with an emphatic 26–17 win on 17 July at the same grounds, outscoring the Wallabies 6 tries to 3 and taking the series 2–0.
When the Springboks arrived in
New Zealand later that year nobody expected them to win the series, as no other South African team had ever achieved the feat, and when the New Zealand leg of the tour kicked off on 14 August with a 13–7 loss to New Zealand at
Athletic Park in
Wellington, it seemed business as usual.
Mr Nel and his men had other ideas, adopting a strategy sent to them via telegram from Springbok great
Paul Roos: "skrum, skrum, skrum". Their dominant pack was the impetus used to deal New Zealand two convincing defeats; a 13–6 win at
Lancaster Park in
Christchurch and a 17–6 win at
Eden Park in
Auckland, taking the series 2–1. The latter translates into a 27–6 (5 try to nil) win using today's point system. The hero of the decider was centre
Louis Babrow, who scored two critical tries. Babrow nearly did not feature in the last test as he was an observant Jew and the match fell on
Yom Kippur; however, he justified playing on a high holy day by saying that the sun had not yet risen in South Africa by the time of kickoff in New Zealand.
The 1937 Springbok team remains the only Springbok team ever to have won a series in New Zealand and contained legendary players such as
Danie Craven and
Boy Louw.
Matches in Australia
Springbok and Wallaby forwards compete for the ball in the mud during the first test in Sydney.
Scores and results list South Africa's points tally first.