1928 — New Zealand beat the Springboks 13-5 in the fourth Test at Newlands in Cape Town to draw the four-match series 2-2. Centre JC van der Westhuizen scored South Africa’s only try, with flyhalf Bennie Osler adding the conversion. Forward Tuna Swain scored the visitors’ only try, but centre Mark Nicholls slotted two penalties and a drop, worth four points in those days.
1956 — The Springboks miss a chance to share the series spoils with the All Blacks in New Zealand as they go down 5-11 in the final Test at Eden Park in Auckland. It was one try apiece with winger Roy Dryburgh going over for South Africa and the conversion landed by fullback and captain Basie Vivier. For the home side, fullback Don Clarke converted Tiger Hilton-Jones’ try and added two penalties. New Zealand took the series 3-1.
2000 — Former two-time lightweight world champion Dingaan Thobela steps up five weight divisions to win his third crown, stopping Englishman Glenn Catley in the 12th round to claim the WBC super-middleweight belt at Carnival City. Thobela, way behind on points at that stage, dropped the champion twice in the last minute, with the referee waving it over with seven seconds remaining.
2010 — Cassius Baloyi and Mzonke Fana fight for the vacant IBF junior-lightweight title they’d both previously held, with Fana winning on points at Emperors Palace. Baloyi won their first encounter in 2008. On the same bill, IBF flyweight champion Moruti Mthalane stopped countryman Zolani Tete in the fifth round.
2011 — LJ van Zyl wins bronze in the 400m hurdles at the world championships in Daegu, South Korea, with countryman Cornel Fredericks finishing fifth. Earlier that day double amputee Oscar Pistorius ran the first leg of the men’s 4x400m relay, helping South Africa qualify for the final the next day in a 2 min 59.21 sec South African record. Pistorius had been to court to force the IAAF to allow him to compete in able-bodied competition.
2012 — Nkosinathi Joyi suffers a shock defeat, losing his IBF strawweight title to unheralded Mexican Mario Rodriguez on a seventh-round knockout in Sinaloa, Mexico. Fighting in Panama City on the same day, Moruti Mthalane retained his IBF flyweight title by stopping Roberto Nunez in the eighth round.
2014 — Dane van Niekerk scores 36 as the South African women limp to 89/4 before losing the first T20 against England in Chelmsford by nine wickets.
2016 — Caster Semenya wins the overall 800m Diamond League title at the first final in Zurich, crossing the line in 1 min 56.44 sec.
2023 — Tazmin Brits scores 78 off 64 balls to lift the South African women to 150/3, but they lose the first T20 against Pakistan in Karachi by five wickets.
2024 — Alan Hatherly, who won the Olympic bronze in Paris a little more than a month earlier, upstages the Games gold and silver medallists to win the world cross-country title in Andorra. He clocked 1hr 09 min 51 sec to beat Frenchman Victor Koretzky, the Games runner-up, by 22 seconds. Englishman Tom Pidcock, the Olympic champion, was third. Candice Lill ended fourth in the women’s race, just four seconds off the podium.
2024 — Mpumelelo Mhlongo wins South Africa’s first medal of the Paris Paralympics, taking gold in the T44 100m as he crossed the line in 11.12 sec.
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