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 national team, scoring 38 tries.

Van der Westhuizen was born on 20 February 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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 of all time.

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 22m line.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Injuries sustained while on international duty led to him missing the greater parts of three consecutive Super 12 seasons in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

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.

In November 2001, he became the first person to play one hundred matches for the Springboks.

Welsh club side Newport RFC had tried to sign him in 2001, but there was pressure on him to play his domestic rugby in South Africa, to be eligible for selection for the national side.

In 2001, he and his wife of six years, Marlene, divorced, shortly before he married Amor Vittone.

He had two children with Vittone.

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, and scored 190 points for his country.

Pld = Games Played, W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, Tri = Tries Scored, Pts = Points Scored

Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place

He was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2007 and later into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.

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.

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.