The Boks slumped to a record breaking defeat, getting nilled at home for the first time by the visiting All Blacks on Saturday 16 August 2008 Capetown, South Africa.

It was generally a poor match. Both teams kicked poorly and both teams made too many errors. All Black flyhalf Dan Carter missed 5 easy penalty attempts at goal. The Boks continued their poor form at the breakdown getting comprehensively outplayed by All Black open side flanker Richie Mccaw. Again the Boks created many opportunities but their second phase control was sadly lacking - having their attacking ball turned over with alarming frequency.

Besides this humiliating defeat the Boks suffered a major injury blow to star winger Bryan Habana who is out for the rest for the Tri-Nations competition due to a hamstring.

South Africa: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Andries Bekker, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Enrico Januarie, 21 Francois Steyn, 22 Conrad Jantjes.

link : All Blacks nil world champions

The Boks smashed an undercooked Argentina B side on Saturday 9 August 2008 playing at Coca-Cola stadium (Ellispark) in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Boks started this match where they left off in Australia - poor execution, conceding turnovers and generally making too many unforced errors. Argentinian was ahead by 9-0 after three penalties in the first 30 minutes. The next 60 minutes belonged to the Boks scoring 9 tries in a runaway victory with their hopelessly outclassed opponents looking exhausted and unable to keep up with the fast tempo in the thin highveld air. It was the first game for Argentina under the global ELVs and they struggled to get one of their traditional weapons - the rolling maul - going.

This match was played in honor of Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday but the scheduling of it a week before playing three critical and consecutive Tri-Nation matches can be questioned. The Boks payed a heavy price in losing lock Bakkies Botha and returning RWC center Jaques Fouries due to injuries for the rest of the Tri-Nations competition.

South Africa: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Butch James, 9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Luke Watson, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Bakkies Botha,3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Joe van Niekerk, 20 Fourie du Preez, 21 Jaque Fourie, 22 Percy Montgomery.

link : Boks run Pumas ragged

The Boks suffered their second Tri-Nations defeat in a close contest on Saturday 19th July 2008 in Perth, Australia.

The world champions played their third demanding game in a row and looked flat and tired. The Boks were overwhelmed at the breakdown with the Wallabies’ open side flanker, George Smith,  dominating this facet of the game and turning over plenty of Springbok ball. The Boks created many opportunities but failed to finish - coming close to forcing a draw with a late effort by winger Bryan Habana losing the ball in the tackle going over the goal line.

The Boks suffered injuries to crucial players. Open side flanker Schalk Burger suffered a recurring neck injury and Bryan Habana suffered a recurring shoulder injury. None of the injuries were serious enough though to keep them out for more than two weeks.

South Africa: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Francois Steyn, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Andries Bekker, 20 Ryan Kankowski, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Peter Grant.

link : Wallabies off the mark with a win