Joost van der Westhuizen

Joost van der Westhuizen is, to me, the platonic ideal of a scrum-half: 89 caps, 38 tries, and a body that played far bigger than its position usually demands. Being part of the 1995 World Cup-winning Springboks ties him forever to one of sport's great unifying moments. But what stays with me is the second act. His battle with motor neurone disease, fought openly until his death at 45, turned a rugby legend into something larger, a symbol of dignity under impossible odds. The Hall of Fame honored the player; I respect the man who kept fighting after the whistle.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Joost van der Westhuizen

Name (Japanese)

ユースト・ファン・デル・ヴェストハイゼン

Reading

ゆーすと・ふぁん・でる・ゔぇすとはいぜん

Born

February 20, 1971 – February 6, 2017

Origin

Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa

Height

188 cm

Occupation

rugby union player

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Pisces / Boar

University

University of Pretoria

Awards & achievements

• 2015 World Rugby Hall of Fame

• Official sitehttps://joost.co.za/
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joost%20van%20der%20Westhuizen
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A6%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%83%BB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%87%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%83%B4%E3%82%A7%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%83%8F%E3%82%A4%E3%82%BC%E3%83%B3
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q971915

Tags

• Gauteng
• rugby union player

Last updated

November 2, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.