LIONS ARE HOPEFUL

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31678, 14 May 1968, Page 19

LIONS ARE HOPEFUL

(N.Z.P.A .-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON.

The 1968 British Lions flew) to Johannesburg yesterday, hoping to become the first British side to defeat the Springboks in a test series in this century. “We have a young, fit side with plenty of ability,” said the team manager, Mr D. Brooks.

Reporters asked the 44-year-old Brooks about political aspects of the tour. He replied: “This has been a traditional tour for the British Isles and I feel it is right we should go." Referring to the match scheduled against Rhodesia in Salisbury on June 3, Mr Brooks said “To my know-

ledge there has been no further request from the Commonwealth Office for us not to play the match. “I don’t think the tour will place the British Government in an embarrassing position."

The South Africans, now in the process of building up their own test combination in a series of trials, are taking the British challenge seriously. “Rest assured, we are up against a good team," Dr Danie Craven, the South African Rugby Board president, said in Johannesburg. “Only our best players, playing their best Rugby, will be able to beat them.”

Two tough provincial teams will test the Lions in the early stages of the tour. On Saturday, Western Transvaal will open the series at Potchefstroom. The following Wednesday, at Cape Town, Western

Province will meet the tourists. Four test matches are to be played—at Pretoria, June 8. Port Elizabeth, June 22, Cape Town, July 15, and Johannesburg, July 27. The Lions will make their initial training base at Stilfontein, a quiet country town 80 miles south-west of Johannesburg, where they will spend four days of tough training getting accustomed to the high altitude, before their first match at nearby Potchefstroom on Saturday.

Although the South African selectors have been searching for new talent in the present series of trial matches, first indications were that there would be no drastic deviation from the side which South Africa fielded against the French last year. In all, 20 matches will be played on the tour, which ends with, the fourth test