South African World Cup winner Hannes Strydom dies aged 58
South African World Cup winner Hannes Strydom has died in a car crash, according to reports in South Africa.
Netwerk24 reported on Monday that the crash occurred on the N4 in the Witbank area in Mpumalanga. Strydom was 58 years old.
The 21-cap lock started in the 1995 World Cup final and becomes the fifth member of that squad to pass away.
President of the South African Rugby Union Mark Alexander shared this statement: "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,” said Mr Alexander.
"He also played more than 100 games for the Lions at a time when they dominated the game in South Africa and won the Super 10 before it became Super Rugby, which underlined the quality of that team.
"Hannes, along with other players from that Lions team, such as Francois Pienaar, Balie Swart, Kobus Wiese, and Hennie le Roux, formed the core of the famous Bok squad that lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in South Africa in 1995.
"He was a hard-working lock who never shied away from getting stuck in and doing the dirty work. 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."
Strydom captained the Lions to Currie Cup victory in 1999. Lions CEO and fellow 1995 World Cup winner Rudolf Straeuli said: “We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Hannes.
"We share a tight bond as members of the 1995 group and to lose yet another one of our brothers is a big blow.
"Our sincere condolences go out to his family, friends and the rugby fraternity at large."
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Excellent game management in the last 15 or so minutes to close it out. Aussie got a bit panicky.
Go to commentsWhile all this is going on… I’ve been thinking more about the NFL draft system and how to make the commercial elements of the game more sustainable for SA teams who precariously live on the fringe of these developments. SA teams play in Europe now, and are welcome, because there’s a novelty to it. SA certainly doesn’t bring the bucks (like a Japan would to SR) but they bring eyes to it. But if they don’t perform (because they don’t have the money like the big clubs) - it’s easy come easy go… I think there is an element of strategic drafting going on in SA. Where the best players (assets) are sort of distributed amongst the major teams. It’s why we’re seeing Moodie at the Bulls for example and not at his homegrown Western Province. 20-30 years ago, it was all about playing for your province of birth. That has clearly changed in the modern era. Maybe Moodie couldn’t stay in the cape because at the time the Stormers were broke? Or had too many good players to fit him in? Kistchoff’s sabbatical to Ireland and back had financial benefits. Now they can afford him again (I would guess). What I am getting at is - I think SA Rugby needs to have a very strong strategy around how teams equitably share good youth players out of the youth structures. That is SA’s strong point - a good supply of good players out of our schools and varsities. It doesn’t need to be the spectacle we see out of the states, but a system where SA teams and SA rugby decide on where to draft youth, how to fund this and how to make it that it were possible for a team like the Cheetahs (for example) to end up with a team of young stars and win! This is the investment and thinking that needs to be happening at grassroots to sustain the monster meanwhile being created at the top.
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