Scrum of the Earth /

In 1997, flanker Andre Venter became the first player to be sent off in a New Zealand-South Africa test match. The back-row bully was given his marching orders for trampling all over Sean Fitzpatrick’s head. Having been 21-11 up at one stage, and 21-29 down when Venter headed for the dressing room, within half an hour of his exit, the All-Blacks surged ahead by 50-21 - it was the first time either side had cracked the half-century barrier against one another. The aggregated 90 points still remains a Tri-Nations record for a single match.

Elsewhere in the rugby world, Australia stuffed Fiji 52-28 in 1985, and New Zealand and South Africa shared an 18-18 draw in 1994.

In 1305, William ‘Braveheart’ Wallace was captured just outside Glasgow and transported back to London where he would face trial and execution… and then have his life turned into a film. Dom Pérignon was invented in 1693, which would later bring pleasure to countless footballers wives and in 1936, Jesse Owens became the first athlete to win four golf-medals at the Summer Olympics in Berlin.

And it’s Tavalodet Mobarak! As they say in Persian to Argentinean magician Juan-Martin Hernandez (26) and countryman Federico Todeschini (33), South African legend Chester Williams (38) and England’s new Tiger Toby Flood (23).