Formation of National Side
Over the next several years rugby league would lie dormant in South Africa and it was not until the 1960s when talks of creating a national side began. After much discussion within South Africa, it was eventually agreed that a national side would play a touring Great Britain and then undertake a tour of Australasia. The first South African national side played their first competitive fixture on 23 August 1962 and put on a good showing against the much stronger British but eventually lost by nineteen points, 49–30. The following two fixtures turned out to be much the same with the South Africans being defeated on another two occasions but putting in good performances whilst never being comprehensively beaten. The South Africans would embark on their first tour eleven months later with a twenty-four-man squad that included several former Springboks. The tour would start with several friendly fixtures against various minor representative sides where they would gain two comfortable victories, the first international fixture of the tour would take place in Brisbane against the world champion Australians and the South Africans would perform with courage but eventually lose the match 34-6. The following test was played a week later in Sydney that again saw the team put in a tough effort but would lose again 54-21. South Africa would leave Australia without an international win and be low on confidence heading to New Zealand to play a sole fixture against the New Zealand Kiwis whom were expected to win comfortably. However the match turned out to be a tough encounter and surprisingly saw the team gain its first international victory 4-3 The South African side was supplemented by several Australians for this match and so the fixture was not granted test match status.
After this first string of international fixtures the South Africans became disheartened after only winning four of the thirteen tour matches and rugby league again lay dormant for decades. Initiative taken to develop the game in South Africa, were continuously hit by well organised efforts to withhold playing fields from the league clubs. This was one of the most important reasons why the league game could not settle. Municipal officials and rugby union played a major role to cripple all efforts. The league players who could not carry on while their friends were overseas threw in the towel and that was the main reason for the league dry up. (Ex-player: "I know what happened" - Jan Prinsloo)
The Rugby League World Cup tournament had been scheduled to be held in France in 1965, this time with the inclusion of the South African team. However the tournament was abandoned.
Read more about this topic: History Of The South Africa National Rugby League Team
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