1965 — The Springboks suffer what is then their biggest margin of defeat as they lose the final fourth Test against New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland 3-20. Lock Tiny Naude landed a lone penalty for the visitors, who leaked five tries on the day. The 17-point margin eclipsed the 15-point deficit they’d suffered against Australia in Durban in 1933.
1976 — Flyhalf Gerald Bosch slots a late penalty from 50 metres to give the Springboks a 15-14 victory over the All Blacks at Ellis Park and with it a 3-1 series triumph. The visitors won the try-count 2-1, with flanker Klippies Kritzinger dotting down for the home side. But Bosch made the difference with the conversion, two penalties and a drop.
1993 — Brett Schultz finishes with 5/63 before Sri Lanka declare their first innings on 296/9 in the final third Test in Colombo.
1994 — Ditau Molefyane becomes the first South African to win a marginal world title, claiming the WBF junior-lightweight strap after knocking out Noe Antonio Hernandez in Durban.
1996 — John “Shoes” Moshoeu and Mark Williams score as Bafana Bafana beat Australia 2-0 in a four-nations tournament at the Johannesburg Stadium.
1999 — Pollen Ndlanya scores just after the break as Bafana Bafana beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the first leg of their Afro-Asian Cup clash.
2000 — Penny Heyns, the 100m and 200m breaststroke Olympic champion from four years earlier, takes the bronze in the shorter race in 1 min 07.55 sec at the Sydney Games to capture her third career Olympic medal. Just behind her in fourth was 17-year-old compatriot Sarah Poewe, who would have taken the silver had she equalled the 1:07.48 she swum in the semifinals the previous night. With two golds and a bronze Heyns matched South Africa’s then top haul of tennis player Charles Winslow from 1912 and 1920. She would retire two days later after swimming the 200m breaststroke heats so slowly that she missed qualifying for the semifinals.
2001 — Jacques Kallis, resuming on 81, scores an unbeaten 189 on the final day of the weather-hit final second Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. The match ended in a draw with the visitors winning the series 1-0.
2004 — Herschelle Gibbs scores 101 as the Proteas post 246/6, but it’s not enough to keep them in the ICC Champions Trophy tournament as they are beaten by the West Indies by five wickets at the Oval.
2006 — Andrew Hall takes three wickets as the Proteas bowl out Zimbabwe for 152 before beating them by six wickets in the second ODI in East London.
2016 — Henri Schoeman claims his first World Triathlon Series victory, winning the grand final on the Mexican island of Cozumel. He overtook the British Brownlee brothers in the final stretch after Alistair slowed to help struggling Jonathan over the line.
2016 — Hank McGregor, the K1 champion from the day before, and Jasper Mocke win the men’s K2 marathon gold at the ICF canoe world championships in Brandenburg, Germany, edging Hungary’s world champions Adrián Boros and László Solti by less than half-a-second at the end of the 29.8km course. Andrew Birkett and Louis Hattingh were third. Jenna Ward and Kyeta Purchase took silver in the women’s K2 marathon. Purchase won bronze in the women’s K1 junior championship two days earlier.
2019 — Quinton de Kock scores 52 from 37 balls as the Proteas make 149/5 in the second T20 against India in Mohali, but Virat Kohli fires back with 72 from 52 to lead the hosts to a seven-wicket victory and a 1-0 lead in the series after the opening match had been abandoned.
2021 — Lukhanyo Am scores South Africa’s only try as they lose their Rugby Championship match against Australia in Brisbane 17-30.
2023 — Hekkie Budler makes his final tilt at a world title but is stopped in the ninth round by WBA and WBC junior-flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji in Tokyo.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.