BLAST FROM THE PAST | McGregor powers his way to fourth K1 world title

1921 — The Springbok team captained by eighthman Boy Morkel plays to a 0-0 draw against New Zealand in the third and final Test at Athletic Park in Wellington to draw the first-ever series between these two sides 1-1.

1949 — The Springboks beat New Zealand 11-8 in the fourth and final Test in Port Elizabeth to complete an historic 4-0 series whitewash. Scrumhalf Fonnie du Toit scored South Africa’s only try, with prop Okey Geffin landing the conversion and a penalty and flyhalf Hansie Brewis nailing a drop. The visitors scored more tries — worth three points then — in three of the four Tests, but it wasn’t enough to cancel out Geffin’s deadly boot.

1968 — South African prime minister John Vorster vows to block the upcoming cricket tour by England after the selection of Basil D’Oliveira, the South Africa-born cricketer who was classified as coloured. Vorster described his inclusion as a political move and he claimed the England team did not represent the MCC but rather the anti-apartheid movement.

1978 — Kork Ballington finishes third in the season-ending Yugoslavian motorcycling grand prix in Rijeka to clinch the 250cc world championship to add to the 350cc crown he’d claimed more than a month earlier. Durban-based Ballington, racing for Britain, had to do without the services of his pit boss wife Bronwyn, who wasn’t allowed into the Iron Curtain country because of her South African passport. He didn’t finish the 350cc race, but the 134 points he amassed for the season remained the most in the history of the class, which ended in 1982 after 33 years on the circuit.

1998 — Ryk Neethling finishes second in the 1,500m freestyle at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur after engaging in one of the great races of his career. Neethling was up against three tough Australians, including Olympic champion Kieren Perkins, new star Grant Hackett and Daniel Kowalski. Hackett, who later went on to win two Olympic titles and break Perkins’s world record, shot into an early lead and he won by more than 10 seconds. But behind him was a battle royale as Neethling, Perkins and Kowalski duelled it out for the better part of 29 laps. The South African was fourth with 100m to go, but he surged to pass them in a sprint finish. Barely half-a-second separated them in the end, with the South African touching in 15min 02.88sec, Perkins in 15:03.00 and Kowalski 15:03.40.

2011 — The Springboks run in six tries to see off Fiji 49-3 in a World Cup group match in Wellington.

2016 — Hank McGregor and Andrew Birkett give South Africa a one-two finish in the K1 marathon at the ICF world championships in Brandenburg, Germany. For McGregor, who completed the 29.8km course in 2hr 20min 11.662sec, it was his fourth straight world crown and his sixth overall, making him the most prolific winner of this event, ahead of Spain’s Manuel Busto on five.

2016 — The Springboks leak six tries as they go down 13-41 to the All Blacks in a Rugby Championship match in Christchurch.