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 SA’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 SA and the conversion landed by fullback and captain Basie Vivier. For the home side, fullback Don Clarke converted Tiger Hilton-Jones’s 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 last 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 had won their first encounter in 2008. On the same bill IBF flyweight champion Moruti Mthalane stopped countryman Zolani Tete in the fifth round.
2011 — Double amputee Oscar Pistorius plays his part to help SA win a medal at the able-bodied World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. He kicked off the 4x400m relay team in the heats, and together they clocked the third-fastest time overall, a 2 min 59.21 sec SA record. Pistorius, who went to court to force the IAAF to allow him to compete in able-bodied competition, was replaced by hurdler LJ van Zyl for the final the next day. The team ran marginally slower, but they ended second behind the US to take silver. Jamaica were third. Pistorius’s participation in the heats entitled him to a medal.
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.
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