Former Springbok No 9 Dawie de Villiers at the opening of the Springbok Experience museum in Cape Town in 2013. De Villiers died Saturday at age 81. Picture: Carl Fourie / Gallo Images
Former Springbok captain Dawie de Villiers has passed away at the age of 81 at his Stellenbosch home on Saturday night. It is believed he had cancer.
A statement from the family, from Sport24, said: “Dawie has been deteriorating over the last few months, but we were privileged to be able to provide him with the assistance of professional help at home.”
De Villiers enjoyed a sprightly 25-match international career as a scrumhalf for the Springboks between 1962 and 1970, captaining the Boks on 22 of those occasions.
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It was a successful career in that time as the Boks racked up 15 wins against six losses, while they also drew four times.
Arguably his crowning achievement was during his last series as Bok captain where he led them to a 3-1 series win over the All Blacks, including a last match 20-17 win at Ellis Park to cap off a superb international career.
In his provincial career De Villiers represented Western Province, Boland and Transvaal (Lions).
Outside of the game De Villiers was an ordained minister in the Dutch Reformed Church and was a former government politician. He was also South African Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1979-1980 and a minister in various departments from 1980 to 1996.
De Villiers was married to Suzaan Mangold and had three daughters and a son.
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