Joost van der Westhuizen rushed to hospital

Former springbok scrum half Joost van der Westhuizen was rushed to hospital on Saturday morning and is in a critical condition.

His J9 Foundation asked on Facebook on Saturday for people to pray for Van der Westhuizen, who was diagnosed with motor neuron disease in 2011. He has defied normally very negative prognoses for the disease, which is known to claim lives within the first year or two of diagnosis, though Van der Wethuizen’s initial prognosis was two to five years.

His foundation wrote: “The family and friends of Joost ask that you all pray for Joost. He was taken to hospital earlier today and is in a critical condition.

“We ask that you all please respect the families’ time at the moment.

“When we have updates we will let you know for now we ask that we all bow our heads in prayer.”

Van der Westhuizen was a member of the triumphant rugby team that won the World Cup in 1995.