Joost van der Westhuizen

Joost van der Westhuizen (20 February 1971 – 6 February 2017) was a South African professional rugby union player who made 89 appearances in test matches for the South African South African Springboks scoring 38 tries. He mostly played as a scrum-half and participated in three Rugby World Cups, most notably in the 1995 tournament, which was won by South Africa. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest scrumhalves in the history of this sport.

He captained the national side on ten occasions and was part of the team that won South Africa's first Tri-Nations title in 1998. Domestically he played for the provincial side the Blue Bulls from 1993 to 2003, with whom he won two domestic Currie Cup trophies in 1998 and 2002, and from 1996 until his retirement in 2003 played Super 12 rugby for Northern Bulls (later renamed the Bulls). He was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2007 and later into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.

In 2011, it was announced that van der Westhuizen had motor neurone disease. He eventually began using a wheelchair and experienced speech problems, yet still raised awareness of the disease through his charity, the J9 Foundation. He was educated at Hoërskool F.H. Odendaal and at the University of Pretoria where he obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He played for the Junior Springboks in 1992.

Rugby career Van der Westhuizen spent his entire provincial career with South African side the Blue Bulls, from 1993 until 2003, whereupon he retired from playing rugby. He played Super 12 for Northern Bulls (later renamed the Bulls) from the competition's inception in 1996 until his retirement in 2003.

He spent his entire career as a scrum-half, despite standing 6 ft 2 ins, an unusually tall height for a player in this position.

He was known for finding and penetrating the tiniest gaps in opposition defences.

His first international cap came aged 22 against Argentina in Buenos Aires on the 1993 tour. The following year he scored two tries in a memorable performance against Scotland at Murrayfield.

South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup. This was their first time playing in a World Cup, a consequence of the previous apartheid. In the final the Springboks faced New Zealand, who were favourites to win the tournament. On New Zealand's wing was Jonah Lomu, an emergent talent, capable of making powerful runs from deep. Lomu was effectively marked by Van der Westhuizen who made several key tackles, including one just outside the 22-m line. In 1997, he captained South Africa's Sevens team to the final at the 1997 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong, where they were beaten by Fiji.

Van der Westhuizen was part of the team that won South Africa's first Tri-Nations series title in 1998. He captained the Bulls to the 1998 Currie Cup. He first captained the South Africa team in 1999. That year South Africa finished third at the World Cup. After the tournament he discovered he had sustained a serious injury to ligaments in his knee in a match a fortnight earlier. Injuries sustained while on international duty led to him missing the greater parts of three consecutive Super 12 seasons in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

In November 2001, he became the first person to play one hundred matches for the Springboks. His selection for the 2003 World Cup made him the first person to represent South Africa at three finals. The team met the All Blacks in the quarter-finals and were beaten.

In November 2003, van der Westhuizen retired from international rugby, at which point he was South Africa's record test cap holder with 89, and record test try scorer with 38. He had made 111 appearances for South Africa in total, captained them in ten tests,

International statistics

Test match record Against P W D L Tri Pts %Won 6 6 0 0 4 20 15 8 1 6 1 5 3 1 0 2 2 10 2 2 0 0 0 0 11 5 0 6 4 20 1 1 0 0 0 0 7 5 0 2 0 0 4 4 0 0 3 15 4 4 0 0 3 15 17 5 0 12 6 30 3 3 0 0 0 0 5 5 0 0 3 15 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 4 20 6 6 0 0 6 30 Total 89 60 1 28 38 190 Pld = Games played, W = Games won, D = Games drawn, L = Games lost, Tri = Tries scored, Pts = Points scored

Test tries (38)

Tries Opposition Location Venue Competition Date Result 1 Buenos Aires, Argentina Ferro Carril Oeste Stadium Test match 6 Nov 1993 1 Buenos Aires, Argentina Ferro Carril Oeste Stadium Test match 13 Nov 1993 1 Johannesburg, South Africa Ellis Park Stadium Test match 15 Oct 1994 2 Edinburgh, Scotland Murrayfield Test match 19 Nov 1994 1 London, England Twickenham Test match 18 Nov 1995 1 Pretoria, South Africa Loftus Versfeld Test match 24 Aug 1996 2 Johannesburg, South Africa Ellis Park Stadium Test match 31 Aug 1996 1 Buenos Aires, Argentina Ferro Carril Oeste Stadium Test match 9 Nov 1996 3 Cardiff, Wales Cardiff Arms Park Test match 15 Dec 1996 1 Cape Town, South Africa Newlands Test match 10 Jun 1997 1 Durban, South Africa Kings Park Stadium Test match 28 Jun 1997 1 Johannesburg, South Africa Ellis Park Stadium Test match 5 Jul 1997 1 Auckland, New Zealand Eden Park Tri Nations Series 9 Aug 1997 1 Pretoria, South Africa Loftus Versfeld Test match 20 Jun 1998 1 Pretoria, South Africa Loftus Versfeld Test match 27 Jun 1998 1 Cape Town, South Africa Newlands Test match 4 Jul 1998 1 Perth, Australia Subiaco Oval Tri Nations Series 18 Jul 1998 1 Durban, South Africa Kings Park Stadium Tri Nations Series 15 Aug 1998 1 London, England Wembley Test match 14 Nov 1998 1 Edinburgh, Scotland Murrayfield Test match 21 Nov 1998 1 Dublin, Ireland Lansdowne Road Test match 28 Nov 1998 1 Pretoria, South Africa Loftus Versfeld Tri Nations Series 7 Aug 1999 1 Edinburgh, Scotland Murrayfield World Cup 3 Oct 1999 1 Glasgow, Scotland Hampden Park World Cup 15 Oct 1999 1 Paris, France Stade de France World Cup 24 Oct 1999 1 Bloemfontein, South Africa Free State Stadium Test match 24 Jun 2000 1 Dublin, Ireland Lansdowne Road Test match 19 Nov 2000 1 Cardiff, Wales Millennium Stadium Test match 26 Nov 2000 2 Port Elizabeth, South Africa Boet Erasmus Stadium Test match 30 Jun 2001 1 Genoa, Italy Stadio Luigi Ferraris Test match 17 Nov 2001 3 Perth, Australia Subiaco Oval World Cup 11 Oct 2003

World Cup matches Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place No. Date Opposition Venue Stage Position Tries Result 1995 1. 25 May 1995 Newlands, Cape Town Pool match Scrumhalf 2. 3 Jun 1995 Boet Erasmus, Port Elizabeth Pool match Substitute 3. 10 Jun 1995 Ellis Park, Johannesburg Quarter-final Scrumhalf 4. 17 Jun 1995 Kings Park, Durban Semi-final Scrumhalf 5. 24 Jun 1995 Ellis Park, Johannesburg Final Scrumhalf 1999 6. 3 Oct 1999 Murrayfield, Edinburgh Pool match Scrumhalf (c) 1 7. 10 Oct 1999 Murrayfield, Edinburgh Pool match Substitute 8. 15 Oct 1999 Hampden Park, Glasgow Pool match Scrumhalf (c) 1 9. 24 Oct 1999 Stade de France, Paris Quarter-final Scrumhalf (c) 1 10. 30 Oct 1999 Twickenham, London Semi-final Scrumhalf (c) 11. 4 Nov 1999 Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Third place play-off Scrumhalf (c) 2003 12. 11 Oct 2003 Subiaco Oval, Perth Pool match Scrumhalf (c) 3 13. 18 Oct 2003 Subiaco Oval, Perth Pool match Scrumhalf 14. 1 Nov 2003 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Pool match Scrumhalf 15. 8 Nov 2003 Telstra dome, Melbourne Quarter-final Scrumhalf

Awards and honours He was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2007, and in 2015 became a member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame when the International Hall was merged with it.

Private life and controversy

In 2001, he and his wife of six years, Marlene, divorced, shortly before he married Amor Vittone. He had two children with Vittone.

In February 2009, Rapport newspaper and Heat magazine reported that they had video evidence of him engaging in sex play with a mystery blonde and snorting a white substance. Charmaine Weavers claimed to have had an affair with him in an interview with YOU magazine. His marriage to Vittone fell apart. At the end of March he lost his job as a television presenter with the South African broadcaster SuperSport.

On 28 June 2009, he was admitted to hospital with a suspected heart attack, although he was discharged soon afterward when tests found no evidence of heart problems. A panic attack was suspected. On 1 November, coinciding with the release of his autobiography Spieëlbeeld ("Man in the mirror"), van der Westhuizen confessed to being in the controversial sex video and apologised for lying.

In a telephone interview in August 2013 with BBC Sports correspondent James Peacock, he spoke about facing up to the controversy. "What I did went against all my principles - my life was controlled by my mind and I had to make my mistakes to realise what life is all about, I led my life at a hundred miles an hour. I've learned that there are too many things that we take for granted in life and it's only when you lose them that you realise what it is all about. But I know that God is alive in my life and with experience you do learn. I can now talk openly about the mistakes I made because I know my faith won't give up and it won't diminish. It's only when you go through what I am going through that you understand that life is generous."

Illness and death In May 2011, van der Westhuizen's publicist confirmed that he had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Some weakness had first been noticed in his right arm near the end of 2008, but he had put this down to the aftereffects of an old rugby injury. A few months later, Dr Kelbrick, his personal doctor and a family friend, noticed his right arm weakness and arranged for tests. He set up a charitable organisation, the J9 Foundation, to raise awareness, funds and to support research. He regularly spent time with his children, Jordan and Kylie.

On 4 February 2017 he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at the Fourways Life Hospital in Johannesburg where he was placed on a ventilator. He died at his home in Johannesburg surrounded by his family on Monday, 6 February 2017, at the age of 45. A public memorial service was scheduled for 10 February at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.