Stricken Joost still the ultimate fighter

The welling of tears was never far away as Van der Westhuizen faced up to what he calls 'this new game I have to play'

JOOST van der Westhuizen will forever be linked to one of the most glorious episodes in South African sport, for it was he who passed the ball that allowed Joel Stransky to kick the drop goal that won the World Cup for the Springboks at Ellis Park in 1995.

There is a superb picture of Van der Westhuizen making that pass and he appears in many of the other refulgent images of that storied sequence, but for me his greatest contribution came a long time before that tense final went into extra time.

It happened in the 12th minute. The All Blacks brought Jonah Lomu steaming onto the ball and he crashed through in front of South Africa's posts. Lomu was the ogre, the monster winger who it was said would destroy the Boks and this was the moment everyone had feared.

Surely it would be a try. Only one Springbok was left in his way, No9 on his back, and Joost stood his ground, dipped his shoulder, grabbed the churning legs in an iron grip and broke Lomu's charge - holding him up long enough for the other Boks to scramble back and help him snuff out the threat.

There were other memorable Joost moments.

Strikingly big for the position he played, immensely strong, possessed of whippet-like pace he had the predatory instincts of a cat going for the kill when it came to scoring tries.

Van der Westhuizen scored tries in each of his first two tests in Argentina in 1993 and established himself as a special player the following year by breaking through the entire Scotland pack for a try that the legendary Bill McLaren described as one of the most remarkable he had ever seen.

There were others - a solo effort down the touchline at Twickenham, a hat trick against Wales, a sniping break and score against the All Blacks that sparked a comeback from 23-5 down for a 24-23 win in Durban in 1998 that proved crucial to South Africa winning the Tri-Nations for the first time.

Joost was often in the news, often for the wrong reasons, but he was an outstanding rugby player, as evidenced by his 89 caps, 38 tries (a mark only recently surpassed by Bryan Habana in the World Cup), the fact that he captained his country in World Cups in Sevens and 15s and his presence in the IRB's Hall of Fame.

Thus, it was with excruciating pathos that Van der Westhuizen's two keenest opponents, George Gregan and Justin Marshall, three of his coaches and many of his Springbok teammates attended a function in his honour this week.

We were told it was to celebrate his life but the terrible reality was that we were there to do the opposite, and the welling of tears was never far away as Van der Westhuizen, with typical determination, faced up to what he calls "this new game I have to play".

He took on his mea culpa with good humour but could not disguise the slur in his voice, the limp and his weakening arms as, with a poignant reversal of roles, he went on stage before a massive dinner audience of 1200 to take verbal passes from Stransky.

Joost is suffering from what is called Lou Gehrig's disease after the New York Yankees baseballer who succumbed to its ravages 70 years ago. Sadly, the prognosis today is as grim as it was then - rapidly increasing paralysis, difficulty in swallowing and speaking, and a life expectancy of less than five years, although there will be no impairment of mental functions.

The cause of ALS remains unknown but it is cruel - the motor function of the central nervous system is destroyed but the mind remains fully aware to the end.

Sometimes life is just not fair and Joost's response is the only one he knows: "I'll fight it." One can but repeat sports minister Fikile Mbalula's words of encouragement: "we wish you strength, brother."