Namibia’s gamekeeper patrols at fly-half
Respected doctor in a Windhoek hospital. Happily married and, oh yeah, he helps run a shelter for wild animals along with his brother-in-law, and Namibian rugby team-mate, Schalk van der Merwe too.
Under the circumstances, question number one is obvious, isn't it? Ruudie, how do you do it?
"It's sport, so it's easier (than the day job)," he replies with a nonchalant shrug. "People back home are very good helping me. If I miss cricket practice because I'm at the rugby, or vice versa, it's no problem, it's still amateur sport. If it was professional, I don't think it would be possible.
"Sometimes it is really difficult though, especially with the wildlife foundation. That takes a lot of time for me and Schalk.
"The ideal situation would have been that we prepared for a month (full-time) beforehand, but we left for Australia on the Wednesday, and I still had to work on Tuesday. Even with injuries, physically we could all be in better shape with more time for training."
Life was busy enough for van Vuuren three years ago. Back then, he only had his rugby, his cricket, and his job to juggle. When he married Marlice, he didn't bargain for the fact that half the Serengeti would come under his care too.
"Schalk promised me a gift if I married his sister," he laughs at the memory. "They grew up on the farm, and they've been doing it for the last thirty years now.
"It's a non-profit organisation, and it's really something that we do with a passion. I'm more into the administrative side and getting sponsorships because I'm in the city. I've never had to head-butt a lion or anything. I leave that stuff to Schalk."
It seems somewhat ironic then that, though it's Schalk who head-butts wild, vicious animals, it's Ruudie who picked up the injury a calf tear that makes him a doubt for Sunday's tie with Ireland.
Van Vuuren is expected to be fit for the weekend, and hopefully the injury will prove to be merely a minor low, in a dual career that peaked earlier this year during the Cricket World Cup against England, at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth.
It was there that van Vuuren bowled out five English batsmen for the loss of only 43 runs.
"You walk out there and you're playing England," he remembers, with an air of disbelief still in his voice. "The previous day there was a guy from Sky News interviewing me and he said: 'Imagine taking five wickets against England', and I said that would be wonderful because they invented cricket.
"We walked out there and the 'Barmy Army' was there, and they were making an awful lot of noise.
"All of a sudden I took the first wicket and (the game) turned around, and when I came off everybody stood up and clapped.
"Then, with the last ball of the match, I hit James Anderson back over his head for six, and was clapped off again. That was some feeling, but we were so relaxed. The guy who was batting with me at the end was joking with me, and it all seemed so natural, so right."
Namibia lost by an agonising 13 runs in the end, but Van Vuuren had cemented his place in his country's sporting history. With so much talent in two codes then he plays his rugby at fly-half did the 31-year-old ever consider turning professional in years gone by?
"Yes, I've had a couple of opportunities to do that, but every time things seemed to turn out so that, at that time, I couldn't go away, from the practice or whatever, and at one stage I got married to Marlice, and got involved in the shelter. Every time something stops me.
"The other side to that is, because I am an amateur, I can enjoy it more. I just think of my work. There, I have to be professional.
"I can't afford to let the knife slip. On the rugby field I can laugh and joke with my mates. I don't think when I walk on to that field that it's my office, which professionals do. It gives you a sense of perspective, I enjoy it more."
And are there any young van Vuuren's we should be watching out for in the near future? "I'm just married," he laughs. "Where would I find the time to start to a family as well?"
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