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Cape Town - With the first of three Tests taking place on Saturday, we decided to embrace positivity and look at five times the Springboks emerged as convincing winners against England.
The Springboks and England have met 38 times over the years, with South Africa winning 23 of those, losing 13 and drawing 2.
Things have changed in recent years, however, and South Africa will arrive at Ellis Park this weekend coming off a disappointing loss to Wales and a disappointing two years under former coach Allister Coetzee.
The Boks have slipped to 7th in the world rankings, and a win over Eddie Jones' England on Saturday will go a long way towards convincing a concerned public that this team can get back on the right track.
Here, we look at five memorable Tests that saw the Boks give England a rugby lesson.
1. England 6-42 SA (Twickenham, 2008)
Unfortunately, you have to go back 10 years to find the last time the Boks really put England to the sword. On this day, Peter de Villiers' Boks ran in five tries through Danie Rossouw, Ruan Pienaar, Adrian Jacobs, Jaque Fourie and Bryan Habana. This came at a time where Pienaar was being backed as the Springbok flyhalf, and he left the match with a personal haul of 20 points.
2. England 0-36 SA (Paris, 2007)
This was a great day for South African rugby as the Boks schooled the defending champions at the 2007 World Cup. England had no answer as JP Pietersen went over for two tries to go with one from Juan Smith. This match set the standard for the Boks for the rest of the tournament. Things were a lot closer when the sides met at the same venue in the final, but the Boks still emerged as 15-6 winners to lift their second World Cup.
3. SA 55-22 England (Pretoria, 2007)
In the build-up to the World Cup, the Boks were rampant. Jake White's men actually went into half-time 19-17 down in this one, but they bounced back strongly in the second half to run away with it. Bryan Habana and Pierre Spies scored two tries each while Bakkies Botha, Schalk Burger, Ricky Januarie and Percy Montgomery also scored.
4. SA 58-10 England (Bloemfontein, 2007)
The very next weekend, the Boks ran in seven tries with Schalk Burger, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana (2), Frans Steyn, CJ van der Linde and Ashwin Willemse all scoring. Percy Montgomery, meanwhile, slotted all of his conversions and also landed three penalties. Nine players who played this match would go on to start the World Cup final that year.
5. SA 44-21 England (Paris, 1999)
Who could forget this World Cup quarter-final? Joost van der Westhuizen and Pieter Rossouw scored tries for the Boks, but this match will forever be remembered as the day that Jannie de Beer kicked a record five drop goals. Everything he kicked turned to points that day, and while the Boks would go on to lose in the semi-finals to Australia, their win over England will go down as one of the great World Cup clashes.
