Joost van der Westhuizen
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| Joost van der Westhuizen | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Joost van der Westhuizen Heystek | ||
| Date of birth | February 20, 1971 (age 36) | ||
| Place of birth | Pretoria, South Africa | ||
| Height | 1.85 m | ||
| Weight | 88.9 kg | ||
| Rugby union career | |||
| Position | Scrum-half | ||
| National team(s) | Caps | (points) | |
| 10 Years |  Springboks |
89 | 190 |
| correct as of . | |||
Joost van der Westhuizen (born 20 February 1971) is a former South African rugby union footballer who was the Springboks' first choice scrum-half in the late 1990s. He was capped 89 times for the Springboks and scored 38 tries. He is the most capped Springbok of all time and holds the record for the most test tries by a South African player. His career test try tally of 38, makes him the scrum-half with the most tries in Test Rugby. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest half-backs of all time.
With his steely blue eyes and uncharacteristically big build for a scrum-half, he was known as an aggressive and fast runner and ferocious defender. Joost was best suited to a very physical type of game, often mixing it up with the forwards. He enjoyed his greatest success when playing alongside Chester Williams and the great fullback, Andre Joubert, especially when they attacked at pace around the blind side of the scrum.
He played in the 1995 and 1999 Rugby World Cups. In the former he defended heroically, famously tackling New Zealand's giant wing Jonah Lomu, amongst others leading to the Springbok World Cup victory. Van der Westhuizen's strengths as a rugby player lay in his dangerous ability to 'snipe' around the fringes of rucks, often leading to tries, as well as his fearless defence. Van der Westhuizen was also an inspirational player and captain, a talismanic figure in many successful Springbok sides. Joost played in the 2003 Rugby World Cup before eventually retiring from international rugby, having won every tournament trophy available to a South African rugby player aside from the Super 12.
| South Africa squad - 2003 Rugby World Cup | ||
|---|---|---|
| Forwards: | Bands • Bezuidenhout • Boome • Botha • Burger • Coetzee • Krige (c) • Matfield • van Niekerk • Rautenbach • Rossouw • Santon • Scholtz • Sephaka • Smit • Smith |  |
| Backs: | Barry • Delport • Fourie • Greeff • Hougaard • de Kock • Koen • Loubscher • Muller • Paulse • Terblanche • van der Westhuizen • van der Westhuyzen • Willemse | |
| Coach: | Straeuli | |
