World of Boxing and Rugby Union
Scrum-half
4. Joost van der Westhuizen
Joost van der Westhuizen is widely regarded as one of the greatest scrumhalves of all-time. He played 89 Tests, making him the fourth most capped Springbok in history, and captained South Africa on 10 occasions.
He scored 38 tries in his Test career, making him the top try-scorer in Springbok history as well as the most prolific try-scoring Test scrumhalf of all-time. He formed a Springbok record and legendary halfback combination with Henry Honiball, was an integral member of the 1995 World Cup and 1998 Tri-Nations winning squads and was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2007.
At 1.88m tall and 92kg, Joost was a big scrumhalf who utilised his size and speed to great effect around the fringes of rucks. He kicked brilliantly with both feet and was a ferocious defender. His head-on tackle of giant All Black wing Jonah Lomu in the 1995 World Cup final is legendary.
He made a try-scoring debut in the Springboks’ narrow 29-26 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires on November 6, 1993 and scored another in the second Test at the same venue a week later. He scored a brace of tries against Scotland at Murrayfield in 1994 and another against New Zealand at Ellis Park in 1996.
Later that year, van der Westhuizen made history by becoming the only ever international player to score a hat-trick of tries at Cardiff Arms Park. He started in all three Tests of the 1997 British & Irish
Lions series, scored a try in both the second and third Tests and earned a Tri-Nations winners’ medal the following year.
Van der Westhuizen captained South Africa for the first time against old rivals New Zealand in a Tri-Nations Test in August 1999 and led the Springboks in their World Cup campaign later that year. He went on to play in his third World Cup fours years later and scored a hat-trick of tries whilst captaining the team in the 72-6 hammering of Uruguay in the pool stages. The disappointing 29-9 defeat to New Zealand in the quarter-finals proved to be Van der Westhuizen’s final Test.
Van der Westhuizen suffered a suspected heart attack in 2009 and in a further blow to his health he was provisionally diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2011.