1921 — The Springbok team captained by eighthman Boy Morkel play to a 0-0 draw against New Zealand in the final third Test at Athletic Park in Wellington to draw the first series between these two sides 1-1.
1949 — The Springboks beat New Zealand 11-8 in the final fourth Test in Port Elizabeth to complete a historic 4-0 series whitewash. Scrumhalf Fonnie du Toit scored South Africa's only try, with prop Okey Geffin landing the conversion and a penalty and flyhalf Hansie Brewis nailing a drop. The visitors scored more tries — worth three points then — in three of the four tests but it wasn’t enough to cancel Geffin’s deadly boot.
1968 — Prime minister John Vorster vows to block the upcoming cricket tour by England after the selection of Basil D’Oliveira, the South African-born cricketer who was classified as coloured. Vorster described his inclusion as a political move and he claimed the England team did not represent the MCC but rather the anti-apartheid movement.
1978 — Kork Ballington finishes third in the season-ending Yugoslavian motorcycle grand prix in Rijeka to clinch the 250cc world championship to add to the 350cc crown he claimed more than a month earlier. Durban-based Ballington, racing for Britain, had to do without the services of his pit boss wife Bronwyn, who wasn’t allowed into the Iron Curtain country because of her South African passport. He didn’t finish the 350cc race but the 134 points he amassed for the season remained the most in the history of the class, which ended in 1982 after 33 years on the circuit.
1998 — Ryk Neethling finishes second in the 1500m freestyle at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur after engaging in one of the great races of his career. Neethling was up against three tough Australians, including Olympic champion Kieren Perkins, new star Grant Hackett and Daniel Kowalski. Hacket, who later went on to win two Olympic titles and break Perkins’ world record, shot into an early lead and he won by more than 10 seconds. Behind him was a battle royale as Neethling, Perkins and Kowalski duelled for the better part of 29 laps. The South African was fourth with 100m to go but surged to pass them in a sprint finish. Barely half-a-second separated them in the end, with the South African touching in 15 min 02.88 sec, Perkins in 15:03.00 and Kowalski 15:03.40.
2011 — The Springboks run in six tries to see off Fiji 49-3 in a World Cup group match in Wellington.
2016 — Hank McGregor and Andrew Birkett give South Africa a one-two finish in the K1 marathon at the ICF World Championships in Brandenburg, Germany. For McGregor, who completed the 29.8km course in 2hr 20 min 11.662 sec, it was his fourth straight world crown and his sixth overall, making him the most prolific winner of this event, ahead of Spain’s Manuel Busto on five.
2016 — The Springboks leak six tries as they go down 13-41 to the All Blacks in a Rugby Championship match in Christchurch. Winger Bryan Habana scored South Africa's only try.
2020 — Akani Simbine wins the Diamond League meet in Rome, rescheduled because of the Covid-19 pandemic, finishing in 9.96 to beat Arthur Cissé of Ivory Coast by eight-hundredths of a second.
2022 — The Springboks score four tries as they beat Argentina 36-20 in a Rugby Championship encounter in Buenos Aires.
2023 — Scrumhalf Cobus Reinach and left wing Makazole Mapimpi score hat-tricks as the Springboks hammer Romania 76-0 in a 12-try romp in their second Rugby World Cup group match in Bordeaux. Reinach scored his first two tries in the opening 10 minutes and dotted down for his third in the 23rd, missing his own 21-minute record of 20 minutes for the fastest RWC hat-trick he set in 2019 against Canada.
2023 — Aiden Markram’s 93 pushes the Proteas to 315/9 before Marco Jansen takes 5/39 as South Africa beat Australia by 122 runs in the final fifth ODI at the Wanderers to take the series 3-2.
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