Former Lions and Bulls lock beaten to death in France

South African and French rugby is in a state of shock after the news that Barend Britz has been beaten to death.

Britz played Transvaal (Golden Lions) and Northern Transvaal (Blue Bulls) in the 1980's before moving to France where he played for Perpignan. In 1994 he won the Challenge Yves du Manoir.

The second row retired from the game in 1996 and settled in the French town and set up a bar called 'Bar and Britz'

The attack happened at 9pm last night at Britz' bar according to L'Independent, with glasses and carafe's being thrown at the bar window. Britz confronted the man, who then subsequently assaulted the 63-year-old. Britz was rushed to hospital but could not recover from his injuries.

A man in his 30's has since been arrested and is in police custody.

His former club Perpignan tweeted "The President of the USAP @F_Riviere, coaches, players, and all USAP personnel have learned with great sadness the passing of BAREND BRITZ, a former iconic player in our club.We offer our most sincere condolences to his family"

Tributes have come pouring in on his son's Facebook page, where a photo of the two has been posted.

Barend Britz and his son pose for photo in 2016.

Perpignan are due to play Connacht in the European Rugby Challenge Cup at The Sportsground on Saturday. The EPCR confirmed to RugbyPass that Perpignan have requested a minute's silence before the match in honour of Britz.

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