Joost van der westhuizen autobiography featuring

— -- On the wall of Joost van der Westhuizen's house in Johannesburg, next to Springboks jerseys from the three World Cups he played in, is a small picture with the following message.

"If you don't believe in heroes, then you haven't met my dad."

In the green of South Africa, he was the heartbeat of their 1995 Rugby World Cup-winning side and continued at scrum-half in both the 1999 and 2003 tournaments.

The signs of motor neurone disease began in 2008 when he noticed a weakness in his right arm. By 2011, confirmation came of the brutal illness which continued to eat away at his once sturdy frame until he passed away on Monday, aged 45, surrounded by his family.

Tributes are rightly pouring in for the most combative of scrum-halves, a man who rivalled the best No.9s of the professional era, but his legacy is now two-fold with the work of his J9 Foundation continuin