South Africa’s former rugby player Hannes Strydom died at age 58 in a road accident.
After the 1994 end to apartheid, he was a member of the Springboks team which won the Rugby World Cup in 1995.
Strydom won 21 Springboks caps during his career, between 1993 and 1997.
Kobus Wiese, a former teammate of Strydom’s and a close friend told the local press that the details were vague but the car Strydom traveled in was involved in a collision with cab.
Accident near eMalahleni, a coal-mining town in Mpumalanga Province.
Mark Alexander, the South African Rugby Union president, hailed Strydom in as “one the heroes of our game locally” when he paid tribute to the Springboks.
The Lions of his former club also paid him tribute, calling him a legendary lock-combination with Wiese.
The Lions Rugby Company’s chief executive Rudolf Straeuli said: “We have a close bond with the members of 1995 and losing another of our brothers would be a great loss.”
Strydom debuted for the Springboks back in 1993. He helped South Africa defeat New Zealand by 15-12 at the 1995 World Cup Final in Johannesburg, the largest sporting event after apartheid.
After playing for the British and Irish Lions in 1997, he ended his Springboks career.
Strydom captained also the Lions who won the Currie Cup in 1999.
Between 1993 and 2000, he made 115 team appearances.
Strydom, who retired from rugby in 2007, worked as a pharmacy manager for the Pretoria capital and founded Pharma Valu, a chain of pharmacies, after hanging up his shoes.
He was hospitalized in 2014 after a six-person carjacking caused him to suffer a fractured skull and stabbing wounds.
This is the fifth member of the Springbok 1995 team who has died.
Other notable deaths include Ruben Krüger (2010, Joost Van der Westhuizen (2017) and Chester Williams & James Small (2019). Kitch Christie, the coach who died in 1998, was also a victim.
