South African legend Joost van der Westhuizen dies

Former South Africa scrum-half had been battling motor neurone disease since 2011.

Springbok legend Joost van der Westhuizen has died at the age of 45, after a long and public battle with motor neurone disease.

The World Cup-winning scrum-half, who was diagnosed with the muscle-wasting motor neurone disease (MND) in early 2011, was admitted to a hospital in Johannesburg in a critical condition on Saturday, February 4.

The J9 Foundation – which he founded in 2012 to help people suffering with MND – confirmed his death on Monday, February 6, in a brief post on Facebook.

The Foundation had been posting regular updates on his condition since he was admitted. An update on Sunday morning said he was ‘putting up an incredible fight’.

In a later statement, the Foundation said he had defied medical expectations, which had given him a 20% chance of surviving two years when he was first diagnosed with the form of MND known as Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Van der Westhuizen won 89 caps for South Africa, two of them on the wing, making his debut in Argentina in 1993 and finishing his international career against his biggest adversaries, New Zealand, in 2003. He scored 38 tries for his country – a record that was finally broken by Bryan Habana in 2011 – and helped the Springboks to the historic 1995 World Cup title on home soil. He was inducted into the International Rugby (now World Rugby) Hall of Fame in 2007.

He played all his domestic rugby for Blue Bulls, playing 144 Currie Cup matches between 1992 and 2002, scoring 71 tries. He was captain when they won the Currie Cup in 1998, and in 2002, his last season in the light blue jersey. A string of injuries limited his Super Rugby career, however, and he managed just 28 appearances and six tries between 1998 and 2003.

In a statement, South Africa rugby president Mark Alexander said “Joost will be remembered as one of the greatest Springboks – not only of his generation, but of all time.

“He also became an inspiration and hero to many fellow sufferers of this terrible disease as well as to those unaffected.

“To lose a Springbok legend at such a young age is very sad, but his memory will never die. I salute you Joost, on behalf of South African rugby.”

Joost van der Westhuizen is survived by his two children, Jordan and Kylie, parents Gustav and Mariana, and brothers Pieter and Gustav, and their families.

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