THE FINAL WHISTLE
MARK KEOHANE: Powell’s Blitzboks, Joost and poor leadership … all that is good, sad and bad of SA rugby
Springbok legend Joost van der Westhuizen’s battle with MND overshadows his rugby brilliance, writes Mark Keohane
The good in South African rugby is the Blitzbokke, the sad is Joost van der Westhuizen and the bad is the South African Rugby Union leadership and the continued failings around Springbok coach Allistair Coetzee. Neil Powell’s Blitzbokke were magnificent in dismantling England to claim a third win in four World Series tournaments this season; second only to New Zealand’s five successive tournament wins a decade ago. Joost’s failing health, as reported on the front page of Rapport, is the sad news. He is a Springbok legend and among the more revered internationally, but it is the strength of his seven-year battle with motor neuron disease that has overshadowed his rugby brilliance for the Bulls and Springboks. Joost, at the time of writing, was in hospital and still fighting an illness most experts predicted would end his life five years ago. Rapport used an image of Joost making his most famous pass to Joel Stransky in the 1995 World Cup final win against the All Blacks. It took me b...
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