Bok hero Van der Westhuizen battling motor neurone disease

FORMER South Africa captain Joost van der Westhuizen has been diagnosed with a form of motor neurone disease, his publicist has confirmed.

The 40-year-old made his name as one of the world’s best scrum-halves during an 89-Test career that saw him secure a World Cup winners’ medal in 1995.

He is also the Springboks’ joint-record try scorer alongside Bryan Habana with 38 and captained his country to the semi-finals of the 1999 World Cup, before playing his final Test in the quarter-final loss to New Zealand at the 2003 tournament.