Ken Borland

Having first met in a Test in Dunedin in 1921, which New Zealand won 13-5, the Springboks and the All Blacks will play their 100th match in the unlikely venue of Townsville, north-eastern Queensland on Saturday. The greatest rivalry in rugby has seen many historic clashes, but these are five memorable ones that perhaps pass under the radar …

August 6, 1994 New Zealand 18 South Africa 18 (Eden Park, Auckland)

The year 1995 is forever embedded in South African history due to the 15-12 triumph over the All Blacks at Ellis Park in the World Cup final, but much of the groundwork for that win was actually laid the year before when the Springboks toured New Zealand.

South Africa’s previous Test against the All Blacks had ended in an 18-18 draw at Eden Park on August 6, 1994, so the Springboks would have believed they could beat their great rivals back at home on the Highveld. Of course the ever-arrogant Louis Luyt was president of the SA Rugby Rugby Football Union then and had coach Ian McIntosh fired, by fax, for his supposed shortcomings after that match.

But the magnitude of the achievement is shown by that fact that, to this day, no visiting team has won a Test against the All Blacks at Eden Park, the 2017 British and Irish Lions coming the closest in a 15-15 draw.

It was only the fourth time since isolation that the Springboks had played the All Blacks and they outscored them two tries to zero as McIntosh’s direct rugby started to reap benefits. Unfortunately, the ill-discipline that plagued the tour cost South Africa a memorable win as they conceded six penalties. New Zealand were able to salvage the draw when hooker and captain Sean Fitzpatrick (who else?), tugged Brendan Venter’s jersey, provoking a wild swing from the fiery centre and the crucial penalty.

August 14, 2004 South Africa 40 New Zealand 26 (Ellis Park, Johannesburg)

Two Springboks have scored hat-tricks against the All Blacks – wing Ray Mordt in 1981 and centre Marius Joubert in 2004, and no New Zealander has returned the favour.

Joubert’s hat-trick came in an epic 40-26 win for South Africa at Ellis Park, Jake White’s team beating New Zealand for the first time in four years in front of a euphoric crowd of more than 60 000 people.

The Springboks started slowly and were 10 points down after the first quarter. But their set-pieces began to exert influence and some magical backline play by Joubert, Jean de Villiers, Breyton Paulse and De Wet Barry, with eighthman Joe van Niekerk producing a classic display of linking rugby, suddenly saw the momentum turned into a deluge of tries. Victory was sealed in the 76^th minute when Joubert jinked through under the poles for his third try. South Africa won the Tri-Nations the next weekend.

August 27, 2005 New Zealand 31 South Africa 27 (Carisbrook, Dunedin)

Since their return from isolation in 1992, the Springboks have only won 16 of the 62 Tests they have played against the All Blacks, so New Zealand’s dominance is clear and the greatest rivalry in rugby has become rather one-sided at times. But it still holds a special place in Kiwi hearts and South Africa still have the greatest winning percentage against the All Blacks of all opponents.

In fact, back in 2005, it was felt that the Springboks, under Jake White and John Smit, had reignited the old rivalry enough for the All Blacks to debut a new haka against them – the Kapa o Pango – rather than against the British & Irish Lions, who were touring that year too.

In a humdinger in Dunedin, South Africa’s hold on the Tri-Nations crown slipped as New Zealand snatched a dramatic 31-27 win. The lead changed hands seven times before another hooker, Keven Mealamu, broke the Springboks’ hearts by crashing over for a try with just four minutes of play left.

August 1, 2009 South Africa 31 New Zealand 19 (Kings Park, Durban)

On August 1, 2009, flyhalf Morne Steyn broke miscellaneous records as he kicked eight penalties and scored a try which he converted, all of South Africa’s points in a 31-19 win over the All Blacks at Kings Park in Durban. A second-half drop goal attempt hit the upright.

It was the first time the Springboks had beaten New Zealand on back-to-back weekends since 1976, following their 28-19 win in Bloemfontein seven days earlier.

John Smit was leading the Springboks for a world record 60^th time that day and the Springbok lineout was utterly dominant and flank Heinrich Brussow cleaned up on the floor. The home side also harangued the All Blacks with a swarming defence and scrummed and mauled superbly.

October 4, 2014 South Africa 27 New Zealand 25 (Ellis Park, Johannesburg)

Pat Lambie’s 55m penalty on full-time to beat the All Blacks 27-25 at Ellis Park in 2014 was a thrilling conclusion to a dazzling Test match that was full of intensity and side-to-side action, ending a 22-match unbeaten run for New Zealand, one short of their own world record, and giving Heyneke Meyer’s Springboks their first win in three years against their great rivals.

It came after a pulsating All Blacks comeback from 11 points down saw them take a 25-24 lead. The Springboks had thrown the ball around in the first half and scored three tries, but New Zealand came roaring back to make for a special Test match which saw South Africa find the balance between structured play and some cracking attacking bursts from turnover ball.

Babar Azam amassed a host of records as he put the wayward South African bowling to the sword in the third T20 International at Centurion on Wednesday, leading Pakistan to a nine-wicket victory with two overs to spare.

The Proteas were defending a seemingly decent total of 203 for five, their highest ever against Pakistan, but they did not have a prayer as they turned in a poor bowling performance and Babar was simply majestic as he stroked 122 off just 59 balls.

It was the captain’s first T20I century, the fastest ever for Pakistan in just 49 balls, and the country’s highest ever individual score. It saw the tourists romp home in their biggest ever successful chase. He was ably assisted by the prolific Mohammad Rizwan, who struck another punishing 73 not out off 47 deliveries. Their opening stand of 197 off only 107 balls was the highest in any T20 between the established Test nations, and the fourth best of all time.

On a good batting pitch, the Proteas lacked penetration and could only create half-chances, that left them begging “no mas” before long as Babar and Rizwan took advantage of a timid display in the field, turning in a masterclass of batting.

Proteas fans had been purring with delight as South Africa’s openers, Aiden Markram and Janneman Malan, slipped into top gear and led South Africa to what seemed a commanding total.

Markram and Malan are arguably the Proteas’ second-choice opening pair after Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma, but they batted brilliantly in their opening stand of 108 off just 65 balls, both making career-best scores.

Markram, who was only a late inclusion in the T20 squad after Bavuma tore a hamstring in the ODI series, became just the second South African batsman after Hashim Amla in 2016 to score three successive fifties in T20 cricket as he belted 63 off just 31 deliveries with four sixes. He has proven in this series that he can do the power-opener job most capably.

Malan went on to hammer 55 off 40 balls, also doing a fine job for the team as he batted through to the 15^th over. Both openers played mostly classical strokes with exceptional timing, but they also improvised superbly.

Left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz (2-38) removed both openers but George Linde, promoted up the order, brought some x-factor batting as he belted 22 off 11 deliveries and the returning Rassie van der Dussen scored an explosive 34 not out off 20 balls.

South Africa’s total, their best ever against Pakistan, beating the 192 for six they made at Newlands in 2018/19, was however no match as Babar massacred them in the field.

Blistering pace and a keen nose for the tryline meant Bryan Habana was like an arrow zeroing in on its target when it came to try-scoring and the Springbok wing holds the records for the World Cup, Tri-Nations/Rugby Championship, the Springboks and for South Africans in SuperRugby. It is heartening to see the 36-year-old show the same acumen now that he has retired and is in the business world.

A graduate of the Toulouse business school, Habana is now the co-founder of Retroviral, a digital sports marketing agency with a strong emphasis on tech. It’s a career move which probably has its roots back in the early 2000s when he signed up for a BSc IT degree at the then Rand Afrikaans University. But then rugby got in the way.

The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically affected everyone’s lifestyles and is likely to force structural adjustments to the economy of just about everything. Sport has been especially hard hit with the global sports industry now projected to face losses of $62 billion.

The Lockdown has also provided much food for thought for entrepreneurs and, typical of the sharp minds of Habana, Mike Sharman and Ben Karpinski, the founders of Retroviral, they have come up with a great new idea that will assist the wellbeing of sportsmen and women as they look to navigate these tumultuous times.

MatchKit.co is a mobile tech platform that allows athletes to build their own website. And not those starchy looking ones that are never updated, have lots of photos that take forever to load and are low on substance.

Within five minutes, sports stars can build themselves a website that highlights their sponsors, automatically integrates into all the big social media channels and provides detailed stats of their engagements on those platforms, has a plug-and-play, secure e-commerce store that will enable them to sell anything from branded merchandise to video or audio shoutouts, and a portal that will enable people to donate to their foundation or favourite charity.

It has often proven a stiff task for sportspeople to promote themselves better, they tend to forget certain sponsors or, in many cases, not even have an Online presence. MatchKit.co certainly appears to be able to overcome these problems.

“I’m extremely excited, MatchKit will add tangible value to athletes and allow them to easily commercialise their brands around the world. I know I was all over the place after our 2007 World Cup win, but MatchKit now allows the athlete to control their commercial rights, it empowers them, while showcasing their sponsors.

“It came about after bouncing ideas off a South African venture capitalist who’s now in the United States and it has a simple set-up. You look at sportspeople Online and not even 10-15% will have their agent’s details there. What if corporates want to engage with them? What happens if they change their agent?” Habana said at the launch this week.

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The great news to come out of the cricketing world in the last week is that the West Indies tour of England looks set to go ahead with the Caribbean squad arriving on Tuesday to quarantine ahead of a three-Test series that will start on July 8. The matches will be played behind closed doors in a bio-secure environment, with the first Test being held in Southampton, followed by two matches at Old Trafford, starting on July 16 and July 24 respectively.

That means the series will end on July 28. South Africa were scheduled to have played their first Test in the West Indies from July 23-27, with the second meant to start on July 31. With a lucrative T20 series against India lined up for the end of August, it now seems likely the Proteas will only meet the West Indians in September and there is still no clarity on whether that series will take place in the Caribbean or in South Africa, or even be moved to a neutral venue like England. The tour of the West Indies was originally meant to be of just over a month’s duration, so it doesn’t look possible to cram in the two Tests and five T20s that were meant to be played even if the Men in Maroon plant themselves in the UK and the Proteas fly over there and quarantine in the second half of July.