December 5 down the years
All good things come to an end
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England's players celebrate ending South Africa's winning streak at Twickenham © Getty Images
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1998
South Africa's world record equalling run of 17 Test victories ended at Twickenham where England beat the Springboks 13-7 thanks to a Jerry Guscott try and two penalties and a conversion kicked by Matt Dawson. But coach Clive Woodward warned: "There is a gulf, between us and the southern hemisphere that has more to do with the structure of the game than the players. I have no doubt that we have players who are j u s t as good man-for-man but we are s t i l l not on a level playing field."

1950
Oxford won the varsity match 8-0 but the story of the day was provided by the Dark Blues' South African fly-half Murray Hodmeyr who injured a groin muscle in the first half and twice had to have pain-killing injections to continue.

1981
Richard Moriarty's try on debut against Australia turned the Test Wales's way in Cardiff and the home side ran out 18-13 winners of an entertaining game. The kicking was key to the outcome. Gwyn Evans slotted four out of four while Paul McLean managed only two from six

1931
Danie Craven, the man who became South Africa's Dr Rugby, made his Springbok Test debut in an 8-3 win against Wales at Swansea. The game was played in a torrential downpour, so much so that by the end there were pools of standing water on the pitch.

1981
Former Australia cricket captain Ian Chappell was no stranger to controversy or bad language …but for once it was rugby that landed him in it. Introducing a rugby segment about the Wallabies in Wales on a Channel Nine sports programme, Chappell could be heard at the start of the clip saying "Jesus ******* Christ" at the poor quality film. He was immediately suspended by station boss Kerry Packer.

1959
John Dawes (Aberystwyth University) scored a corner try and kicked a penalty goal for the Welsh Universities in their 18-11 win against their English counterparts in Penarth. It was Wales's first win of the series for seven years.

1942
It was reported that Major Ron Gerrard, an England centre in the famous 13-0 defeat of New Zealand in 1936, had been posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Order for "reckless gallantry in rendering harmless an enemy minefield before the attack on El Alamein".

1964
Terry Price, teenaged 'Possibles' fullback, was the Man of the Match in the Welsh trial at Pontypool, scoring 16 of his side's points in their 22-18 defeat of the 'Probables'.

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