Stephen Fry (rugby union)

In 1951 he was chosen to represent the South African national team, on their fourth tour of Great Britain. According to South African journalist R.K. Stent, who travelled with the team during the five months, Fry was the player who most improved during the tour.[3] Stent wrote, that at the beginning, Fry was an unlikely choice for team selection, but by the tour's end he was difficult to leave out.[3] Given the number 27 shirt,[5] Fry played in all five Test matches of the tour and 15 of the matches against club and county teams. His first match of the tour was on 13 October 1951, as flanker against the South Western Counties.[6] Fry was then chosen for every other match for the next six games, scoring his first points with a try in the win over the North West Counties.[7] In the match against the North East Counties on 3 November, Fry was initially selected at number eight, with Basil Kenyon as flanker; though the two switched positions almost immediately after play started.[8]

Fry won his first international cap on 24 November 1951, in the encounter with Scotland. Scotland were totally overwhelmed, and lost the game 44–0; with Fry being the only South African forward not to score during the match.[9] Fry continued to represent South Africa in the Tests, and played in the wins over Ireland,[10] Wales[11] and England.[12] After the Welsh game the entire team, apart from Fonnie du Toit and Fry, were rested for the encounter with the Combined Services team. Fry was given the captaincy for the match, becoming the fifth player to hold the role during the tour.[13] After the final match of the British leg of the tour, the team travelled to France. Despite Fry being the only player on the tour to have experience of playing in France,[3] he was left out of the first match, against a South East France team. Fry was reselected for the final three games, playing at number eight, and again holding the captaincy for the match against South West France. He was back in his role as flanker against the France 'B' team and on 16 February 1952 played in the last game of the tour in a convincing win over France.[14]

The next year saw John Solomon's Australian team touring South Africa. Four Tests were arranged and Fry was to play in all of them. The first was a South Africa win at Johannesburg, but the Second Test, played at Cape Town, saw Fry on the losing side as an international for the first time. Australia won 14–18, with the defeat put down to a South Africans tactical change to try and run with the ball more, in a desire to play to the crowd.[15] Fry kept his place for the remaining two games, wins at Durban[16] and Port Elizabeth.[17]

Fry played his final matches for the Springboks when he captained the team for all four Tests against 1955 touring British Lions.[18][19][20][21] Despite being captain of the national team, Fry was not amongst the Western Province team who were beaten by the Lions in a pre-Test game on 14 July.[22] The first Test of the tour, at Johannesburg, saw the Lions win narrowly, 22–23. This was followed by a South African win in the second Test at Cape Town, but a 6–9 loss in the third Test in Pretoria meant that the final game would decide the tour. South Africa won the final game 22–8, drawing the tour. Fry never played for South Africa again, finishing his career with 10 wins from 13 games.[1]