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Tragedy strikes former Springbok prop Du Plessis
By AAP
The 10-month-old son of former South Africa international Jannie du Plessis has drowned in an accident during celebrations for the 39th birthday of the ex-Springbok prop.
The tragic incident happened at Du Plessis' home in the mining town of Krugersdorp, near Johannesburg, and has been confirmed by local police and Du Plessis' provincial side, the Lions.
"I can confirm that this tragedy took place. We are all devastated," Lions chief executive Rudolf Straeuli told Sport24.
Du Plessis won 70 caps for the Boks and was part of the squad that lifted the Rugby World Cup in 2007 alongside his brother, hooker Bismarck du Plessis. Jannie played his last Test in 2015.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's Test against England at Twickenham, South Africa No.8 Duane Vermeulen said their former teammate and his family were in the thoughts of the players.
"They will be on our minds and all our condolences to Jannie and his family back home," he told reporters on Wednesday. "It is a difficult time for them, but we will stand behind them and support them."
Du Plessis, a qualified doctor, and his wife Ronel have two other children, daughters Rosalie and Hele.
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Latest Comments
No because if it was a 1:1 correspondence it would have been 10 top14, 3 URC and 3 Prem. I did arbitrarily put a max limit per league at 8 because for me if half of the teams are from the top14 it will make no sense. I genuinely didn't think the discussion will go that way tbh as for me it is a details.
Go to commentsFoster should never have been appointed, and I never liked him as a coach, but the hysteria over his coaching and Sam Cane as a player was grounded in prejudice rather than fact.
The New Zealand Rugby public were blinded by their dislike of Foster to the point of idiocy.
Anything the All Blacks did that was good was attributed to Ryan and Schmidt and Fozzie had nothing to do with it.
Any losses were solely blamed on Foster and Cane.
Foster did develop new talent and kept all the main trophies except the World Cup.
His successor kept the core of his team as well as picking Cane despite him leaving for overseas because he saw the irreplaceable value in him.
Razor will take the ABs to the next level, I have full confidence in that.
He should have been appointed in 2020.
But he wasn’t. And the guy who was has never been treated fairly.
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