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. 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.

Early life

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.

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.