Blast from the past: World Cup woes for Bafana in Korea

1924 — South Africa are bowled out for 217 as England win the triangular tournament Test at Lord’s by an innings and 62 runs.

1951 — Spinner Athol Rowan takes five wickets as South Africa bowl out England for 114 to win the first Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham by 71 runs and end a winless streak of 28 matches (14 draws and 14 losses) dating back to 1935. At the time this was the longest winless streak in world cricket, though New Zealand overhauled that a few years later as they hit 44 in 1956, followed by Bangladesh (34) and India (31, from 1981 to 1984).

1971 — The Springboks beat France 22-9 in Bloemfontein in the first of Two tests, scoring two tries to one. The boot of fullback Ian McCallum takes the game away from them, converting tries by Gert Muller and Joggie Viljoen and adding three penalties. Flyhalf Piet Visagie added a drop.

1980 — Racing car driver Desire Wilson walks away unscathed after crashing her car at 240km/h during practice ahead of the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race. She lost control of the car, which hit a barrier then flipped and somersaulted four times. Wilson was fine, but the car wasn’t and her team failed to qualify for the race two days later.

1994 — The SA soccer team is beaten 0-1 by hosts Australia in Sydney in the second of two friendlies Down Under. Jason Polak scored the only goal in the first half.

1998 — Bafana Bafana play their first-ever Soccer World Cup match, going up against hosts France at Stade Velodrome in Marseille. But it ends in disaster, with the home side winning 3-0. Substitute Christophe Dugarry scored in the 36th minute, then Bafana’s French defender Pierre Issa was credited with an own goal in the 77th minute. Forward Thierry Henry put the nail in the coffin in optional time. France would go on to win the World Cup, beating Brazil in the final.

1998 — Corrie Sanders makes the first defence of his marginal WBU title, knocking out former world light-heavyweight champion Bobby Czyz in the second round at the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. The American, who had given Evander Holyfield a tough time for five rounds two years earlier, had boasted that Sanders “with a baseball bat” couldn’t knock him out. He hung up his gloves after that.

1999 — The Springboks field eight debutants, including future stalwarts Robbie Fleck, Breyton Paulse and Andre Vos, and they still hammer Italy 74-3 in the first Test in Port Elizabeth.

2002 — Bafana Bafana exit the World Cup, but only after a brave 2-3 defeat at the hands of Spain in Daejeon. A Benni McCarthy strike in the 31st minute cancelled out a Raul goal. Gaizka Mendieta put Spain 2-1 up just before the break, but skipper Lucas Radebe equalised in the 53rd minute. Raul scored his second goal a few minutes later. Bafana ended with the same number of points and the same goal difference as Paraguay in Group B, but the South Americans advanced because they had scored six goals in total and South Africa five. Just one more goal in any one of the group games would have got them into the knockout stage.

2004 — Legendary scrumhalf Fourie du Preez makes his Springbok debut as SA beat Ireland 31-17 in Bloemfontein for a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. Lock Bakkies Botha scored two tries, with centre Wayne Julies and flank Pedrie Wannenburg also dotting down.

2010 — Winger Gio Aplon scores two tries as the Springboks beat France 42-17 in a one-off Test in Cape Town.

2010 — Dale Steyn takes 5/29 and Morne Morkel 4/19 as South Africa bowl out the West Indies for 102 in the first Test in Port of Spain, a first-innings lead of 250 runs.

2018 — Lizelle Lee scores 117 off 107 balls, but it’s not enough as the South African women are restricted to 262/9 to lose the second ODI in Hove by 69 runs.

2021 — Kagiso Rabada takes 5/34 as South Africa bowl out the West Indies for 162 to win the first Test in Gros Islet by an innings and 63 runs.

2022 — Heinrich Klaasen hammers 81 runs off 46 balls to guide the Proteas, chasing 149, to a four-wicket victory over India in the second T20 in Cuttack to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. India had scored 148/6.