1891 — SA play their second-ever rugby Test, going down 0-3 to Britain in Kimberley. The visitors, who took an uncatchable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, scored their points from the now-defunct goal-from-a-mark by fullback Willie Mitchell.
1896 — The SA rugby team is beaten 3-9 in the third Test against Britain in Kimberley. Wing Percy Twentyman-Jones scored SA’s only try.
1970 — Winger Gert Muller scores two tries as the Springboks beat the All Blacks 14-3 in the third Test at the Boet Erasmus stadium in Port Elizabeth to take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series. Fullback Ian McCallum converted the try and landed two penalties.
1981 — The Springboks level the series against the All Blacks as they run out 24-12 winners in the second Test at Athletic Park in Wellington. Left wing Gerrie Germishuys scored the only try of the match, with flyhalf Naas Botha adding the conversion, a drop and five penalties to become the top-scoring Springbok of all time, surpassing the 130 points amassed by Piet Visagie. Four players made their debuts for the SA side. Colin Beck, Div Visser and Flippie van der Merwe came from Western Province, and Burger Geldenhuys from Northern Transvaal.
1999 — Hezekiel Sepeng takes the 800m silver at the world championships in Seville, losing out on the gold by just two-hundredths of a second. The South African clocked 1min 43.32sec behind Kipketer’s 1:43.30. On the same day the SA men’s 4x400m relay team of Jopie van Oudtshoorn, Hendrick Mokganyetsi, Adriaan Botha and Arnaud Malherbe finished fourth, but were upgraded to bronze nearly a decade later after American Antonio Pettigrew admitted to doping, leading to the disqualification of the victorious US team.
2008 — The Proteas produce another inept display as they lose the third ODI — and with it the series — against England at the Oval. Chasing 297 for victory, SA are bowled out for 170, Hashim Amla top-scoring with 46. Spinner Samit Patel took 5/41 for England, 3-0 up in the five-match series.
2009 — Wing Bryan Habana scores two tries as the Springboks beat Australia 32-25 in a Tri-Nations contest in Perth. Scrumhalf Fourie du Preez and centre Jaque Fourie also dotted down.
2014 — Dale Steyn, Ryan McLaren and Aaron Phangiso rip the heart out of the Zimbabwe line-up as the Proteas win this triangular tournament ODI in Harare by 61 runs. SA were bowled out for 231 after a mid-innings collapse of 7/37. But Steyn (3/36), McLaren (3/24), Phangiso (2/33) and Imran Tahir (1/32) kept the home side on the back foot.
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