Billy Beaumont's British and Irish Lions touring side of 1980 defeated a Proteas XV 15–6 in front of a crowd of 15,000 at the Danie Craven Stadium on 27 May 1980. The nomenclature Proteas XV is of import here and the distinction is made since whilst the Proteas' running backline included notable SARFF star players such as Ronnie Louw, John Noble, Hennie Shields, Charles Williams, Frankie Davids, Errol Tobias (who notched two penalties on the day) and Attie Lategan, the Proteas' forward pack's front five was composed entirely of white Western Province players. A similar arrangement had been witnessed when the Lions played a Leopards XV bolstered by numerous WP and Northern's personnel a little under two weeks earlier in the tour match in Border and signified recognition that the touring party had expressed a commitment that it would not compete against teams overtly selected on racial grounds alone.
