After the 1957 World Cup series in Australia, Alan Prescott's team went to New Zealand and then stopped off in South Africa to play some missionary games. Mixed-race Billy Boston flew home directly and alone, as apartheid was still in force. Both teams regarded the matches as mere exhibitions and engaged in a "touch" type of football at Benoni, Gauteng. The British team played with more gusto in the second match at Durban but the French team refused to take the game seriously. Feelings ran high between the two visiting teams after this match with the French players expressing resentment at Britain's sudden volte-face. It was anticipated that the third match at East London, in view of the strained relations now existing between both teams, would prove a thriller. This supposed grudge match did not eventuate, and the series faded out with Britain again winning with consummate ease.