Blast from the past: Boks get wake-up call in ’74 Lions first Test

Today in SA sports history: June 8

1951 — Batting with a fractured thumb, captain Dudley Nourse scores 208 in the first Test against England in Nottingham to lay the foundation for an SA cricket triumph that ends the nation’s longest run without a victory, a stretch of 28 matches dating back to July 1935. SA won the five-day match by 71 runs.

1968 — The Springboks score three tries as they beat the British & Irish Lions 25-20 in their opening Test in Pretoria. Captain Dawie de Villiers and locks Frik du Preez and Tiny Naude went over for the hosts, while Willie-John McBride, a future legend, scored the only try for the visitors.

1974 — The Springboks go into the first of four Tests against the British & Irish Lions at Newlands with much optimism, but it ends in a 3-12 defeat. The match is decided solely by kicks. A drop by flyhalf Dawie Snyman is overshadowed by three penalties by flyhalf Phil Bennett and a drop by scrumhalf Gareth Edwards. The Boks had six debutants in the team — centres Peter Whipp and Johan Oosthuizen, flanker Boland Coetzee, lock Kevin de Klerk, right-wing Chris Pope and scrumhalf Roy McCallum, the brother of fullback Ian. 

1994 — The SA soccer team is beaten 0-1 by hosts Australia in Adelaide in the first of two friendlies Down Under. Aurelio Vidmar scored the only goal of the match in the 11th minute.

1997 — Helman Mkhalele, known as the “Midnight Express”, scores in the ninth minute to kick-start a 3-0 drubbing of Zambia in a World Cup qualifier at FNB Stadium. Phil Masinga netted in the 16th minute and Mark Williams in the 74th.

1997 — Gerrie Coetzee, SA’s WBA heavyweight champion from 1983/84, engages in his final bout, losing by technical knockout against Iran Barkley, a world middleweight title-holder in the late 1980s. Their bout in Hollywood was for the peripheral World Boxing Board’s heavyweight title which has been contested on just 10 occasions from 1996 to 2018, mostly by no-name brands. The most recent champion was Andreas Sidon of Germany, 52 years old when he last wore the belt into the ring.

1998 — With no play possible on the final day, the first Test of SA’s series against England in Birmingham ends in a draw. That probably suited the visitors best, who would have needed 290 to win.

2001 — Mike Bernardo knocks out Pete McNeeley in one round in Cape Town in the only defence of his marginal WBF heavyweight title. McNeeley’s claim to fame was that he was picked as Mike Tyson’s first opponent after the former world heavyweight champion had served time for rape. Tyson won in the first round.

2002 — Bafana Bafana achieve their first-ever World Cup victory, downing Slovenia 1-0 in their Group B encounter in Daegu, South Korea after Siyabonga Nomvethe’s strike in the fourth minute. After drawing 2-2 with Paraguay in their opening match, SA had everything to play for in their last group game against Spain.

2002 — The Springboks beat Wales 34-19 in the first Test in Bloemfontein, outscoring their opponents five tries to two.

2013 — Bafana Bafana beat Central African Republic 3-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Yaounde. Bernard Parker, Siphiwe Tshabalala and Katlego Mashego scored the goals in this match, played in Cameroon because of civil war in the CAR.

2013 — The Springboks score five tries as they beat Italy 44-10 in Durban in the first match of a quadrangular tournament also featuring Scotland and Samoa.

2019 — Thembi Kgatlana scores to put Banyana 1-0 up against Spain in their opening World Cup group match at Le Havre, France, but they are blitzed in the second half as their opponents hit back with three goals, two of them penalties, to win 3-1.