Previous Tours
In 1976 South Africa had just had the Soweto Riots in which 176 protesters had been brutally murdered by the South African police force. The world was outraged by these events that had occurred in South Africa and therefore did not want any more to do with South Africa until it was out of apartheid except for New Zealand. It seemed that the NZRFU did not care that apartheid was happening in South Africa and that their only concern was weather or not the All Blacks would be able to tour. In 1976 the South African rugby union invited New Zealand to play in a tour of South Africa. This tour was slightly different to previous tours to South Africa as this was the first time Maori were able to play in the All Blacks team when versing South Africa. The South Africans classed the Maori who were playing for the All Blacks as honorary whites for the duration of the tour. In previous tours to South Africa the Maori had to be left at home because of the segregation that South Africa had between the blacks and the whites.