Former South Africa rugby star, Hannes Strydom, who was a part of the Springboks’ 1995 Rugby World Cup profitable facet has died on the age of 58 after being concerned in a automotive accident.
Strydom was reportedly concerned in a collision with a taxi in his homeland within the province of Mpumalanga to the northeast of Johannesburg on Sunday night, November 19.
He picked up 21 caps for the Springboks between 1993 and 1997 and performed all of his membership profession in his native South Africa.
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The Springboks paid tribute to Strydom on social media as president Mark Alexander hailed him for being ‘a hero’ of South African rugby.
‘Hannes was one of the great locks of his generation and as a member of the Springbok squad from 1995, one of the heroes of our local game,’ he stated.
‘He additionally performed greater than 100 video games for the Lions at a time after they dominated the sport in South Africa and received the Super 10 earlier than it grew to become Super Rugby, which underlined the standard of that group.
‘Hannes, together with different gamers from that Lions group, resembling Francois Pienaar, Balie Swart, Kobus Wiese, and Hennie le Roux, shaped the core of the well-known Bok squad that lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in South Africa in 1995.
‘He was a hard-working lock who by no means shied away from getting caught in and doing the soiled work.
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‘To lose yet another member of the iconic Bok squad from 1995 is a heavy blow to the rugby fraternity here in South Africa and our thoughts and condolences are with his wife, Nikolie, their children, Annalie, Hannes, and Lucy, family, and friends in this very difficult time.’
His former membership Lions additionally paid tribute to him – with CEO and former team-mate Rudolf Straeuli recalling their ‘tight bond’.
‘We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Hannes,’ stated Rudolf Straeuli, Lions Rugby Company CEO and former teammate. ‘We share a good bond as members of the 1995 group and to lose one more one in every of our brothers is a giant blow.
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‘Our sincere condolences go out to his family, friends, and the rugby fraternity at large.’
In 2014, Strydom was put into intensive care after being attacked by six folks in an tried carjacking. He fought off the assailants however was left with cuts to his head and a fractured cranium and jaw after they threw bricks by means of his window.
Strydom is the fifth participant of South Africa’s 1995 World Cup-winning group to have died after Ruben Kruger, Joost van der Westhuizen, Chester Williams, and James Small.
